The Princess in the Tower
by moonswirl
Summary: HEART & FIRE #1. Just as they are about to work on the very media friendly case of a missing girl, Booth and Brennan are reunited after three months apart. BoothBrennan, JackAngela
1. Prologue: Ellie & Meg

Title: The Princess in the Tower  
Author: moonswirl  
Pairings: Booth/Brennan, Jack/Angela  
Rating: PG to PG-13  
Spoilers: Not so much... mostly rests on season 1 info... Also means no Cam, and still some Goodman :D  
Disclaimer: Wish it was mine, but it's not... honest :)  
A/N: Tis my first Bones fic :) I already have it done through chapter 4, but I wanna be able to space things so... :)

**PROLOGUE - Ellie & Meg**

**TWO YEARS AGO**

"Wait, okay, give me the camera!" Ellie Montrose asked her little sister Meg. Ellie was sixteen years old. Meg was eleven and she idolized her big sister.

"Okay," Meg handed it off, giving the sky the spotlight before Ellie turned it over to be aimed at herself.

"Witness here the waning freedom of Eleanor Serena Montrose, now a slave to the demands of her overbearing yet supposedly well-meaning parents, and in five days' time a slave to the Carver School for Girls. My co-pilot, Miss Margaret..." she turned the camera around and Meg waved with two hands, "will help chronicle this time. Okay..." she handed the camera back.

"What do we do now?" Meg asked, working to keep the camera steady. Ellie pondered this a moment, then took off running in the opposite direction. "Ellie, wait!" Meg called, taking off running, giving the camera a good jostle.

"Come on!" Ellie would be heard laughing somewhere out of the shaky shot of grass and bare feet running. When the shot finally caught Ellie again, she was peeking through a gate scattered with shrubbery.

"Is he there?" Meg asked, stopping next to her sister.

"Hello Margaret," a voice spoke as a hand pierced through the shrub and waved. Meg squealed and gasped at once. Ellie laughed.

"Are you busy? We need your help on something."

"What kind of something?"

"Highly secretive, the best kind," Ellie went on laughing. "Please Mr. Hodgins?"

"Well if you put it that way..." There was a pause, the sisters waiting anxiously. "Give me five minutes, I'll be right over."

"Thank you!" Ellie called.

"And they say flattery gets you nowhere," they heard him speak as he walked away from the gate.

As the girls waited, Ellie reclaimed the camera and suggested Meg demonstrate her solo for her upcoming dance recital. As Meg did so, Ellie panned on around her with the camera, giving it a good 360 feel. She'd just finished when Jack appeared.

"Hey Mr. Hodgins!" Meg smiled.

"So what's on your mind that you needed me?" The camera lifted as Ellie offered it up to Jack.

"Can you film us a while? Our parents are kind of useless right around here..."

"Uh, yeah, alright," he took the camera, turning it around to take in the two sisters together.

"Great, come on," Ellie turned to Meg and crouched. Meg took the cue, climbing on her back. Ellie ran about, jostling Meg along, much to her enjoyment. Jack followed, capturing the images of the Montrose sisters hopping along like they were riding the world's best ever sugar high. It all lasted about a half hour before they finally told Jack the tape would run out soon.

"So what's all this for?" he asked, still filming.

"Going to make a copy... I'll have one, she'll have one... Our version of a friendship bracelet," Ellie explained. "Okay, bye now!" she laughed as she and Meg waved to the camera before Ellie reached over to turn it off.

xxx

That night, Meg was in bed at 9:30, after which Ellie hung about in her room, listening to music and thinking - of what had been and what was to come once she was shipped off to her new school. She knew why she was being sent and that only made her despise her parents for it even more.

"Ellie, sweetheart?" her mother's voice was heard from outside the door, followed by a knock.

"Yeah..." she responded, not even bothering to sit up. The sound of the door indicated her mother's entrance.

"I just got off the phone with your father."

"And he sends his love from... where is he this week?"

"Prague."

"Right! What'd he want?"

"Well apparently there's been a mix-up and you need to be at school by tomorrow night."

"So dad doesn't want me here when he gets back... perfect. I'm not exactly bouncing with joy at the thought of seeing him either."

"Eleanor..."

"Don't Eleanor me, you know it's true." There was silence for a few seconds.

"I'll help you with your suitcases in the morning."

"Don't bother, I have it covered," she rolled over on her bed, grabbing the covers over herself. "Shut the light on your way out." After a few seconds, the light was turned off, the door shut. Ellie sighed to herself and closed her eyes to sleep.

xxx

It was front page news for weeks, then less and less. Time just went on and people started forgetting, stopped caring.

It never stopped being a mystery people argued over though - What happened to Ellie Montrose?

The stories ran from kidnapping, to runaway, murder, or suicide... She was never found, they didn't know if she was alive, or dead...

The family remained locked tight, which of course kept the blame circling over them like vulture after a great big juicy prey.

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 1: Lost & Found

**THE PRINCESS IN THE TOWER**

_A/N: Thank you thank you for all the kind words!  
I already have it done into chapter 8, but I wanna be able to space things so I'll be posting one chapter every MONDAY... stay tuned! ;)_

**CHAPTER ONE - Lost & Found**

_TODAY_

"And they're sure it's her?" Angela asked as Brennan drove.

"We'll need a face just to make sure, but... yeah."

Angela had been a constant presence for Brennan in recent days, since she found out Booth would soon return. After three months not seeing him, the way they had gotten to where they were... Brennan was thankful to have her there, and neither of them needed words to express it.

"Wow... Ellie Montrose..." Angela shook her head. "I really wanted to believe she might still be alive." Brennan looked to her a moment.

"It's been two years. She would have turned up before somehow."

"Yeah, maybe. But this is just..." She knew she was refering to the little information they did have from the call.

They pulled up to the house, mansion really... There were a few vans there already, more than one being media.

"We better make this quick, I don't want to end up on the six o'clock news," Angela told Brennan. She nodded, reaching for the door handle.

It was as she pulled herself up out of the car that she saw it - Booth's car. "Angela..." she spoke slowly.

"Okay, come on," Angela came and pulled her toward the house before they were overtaken by microphones in their faces, flashing IDs to the police officers.

When inside, they faced a brand new type of frenetic activity. The only person they could see that wasn't running around doing something was a girl with long blond hair, sitting at the bottom of the long staircase leading to the second floor. She looked about thirteen, and they knew this was Meg Montrose. She looked lost, near catatonic.

"Hi," Angela went up to her, Brennan right behind her. "My name's Angela. You're Meg, yes?" They got a nod.

"Up there..." she spoke, in a voice that screamed how spooked she was. They weren't going to get anything out of her in that moment.

They climbed up toward the second floor, took another, shorter stairway to a room. The closer they got to the room, they could hear clearly the sound of girls' laughter. And when they walked in, they stopped in awe at all they saw.

The laughter they had heard came from a projector, splashing with it images of the Montrose sisters, playing, laughing... They knew briefly that this had been what had drawn Meg up to her sister's room.

What she found there would make anyone unsettled. On the cleanly made bed lay a skeleton, clean and bare. It was practically on display, arranged correctly, skull on the pillow. A light blanket rested over it up to mid-chest, arms resting above the cover... the sleeping remains of Ellie Montrose.

"My god..." Angela whispered as Brennan moved past her to go examine the remains.

Angela remained near the door, transfixed. She stared up at the happy girls dancing across the ceiling. Who would want to hurt this girl? Seeing her there, filled with such life... It took something quite unexpected for her to manage to break her hypnotic staring contest with the ceiling - a face she hadn't been prepared to find there. It was only for a second, a flash. 'Jack?' her mind spoke to her.

"Here..." She jumped, suddenly finding Brennan in front of her. She was holding a bag out to her with the skull inside. "We need it quick..."

"I'll make sure not to create a circus out there," she quickly nodded, throwing her jacket over her arm, conceiling the bag before making her way out. She had two things on her mind - IDing the skull, and talking to Hodgins.

xxx

_THREE MONTHS AGO_

"Slow morning, uh?" Brennan looked up from her computer screen at the sound of Booth's voice.

"I guess. They're bringing in a shipment from South America this afternoon." Booth nodded.

"Well come on, I'm taking you to lunch." She sat back.

"How come?"

"Do I absolutely need a reason?" She was on the verge of replying when he answered on his own. "Fine, I need a favor," he pulled a case file from behind his back. It got a smirk out of her as she stood.

"Pizza."

"Yes ma'am."

They got to the restaurant, sitting by the window. They ordered before Brennan gestured for Booth to hand her the file. "Tell me."

"Friend of mine. His family was killed in a fire." She looked over the images of the remains. She looked up to Booth, face filled with condolences.

"Okay, I'm listening."

xxx

_TODAY_

The room had gotten quieter, the other people in there working quietly if they weren't already done and gone. Brennan was finishing up herself, getting ready to head out to the lab to continue on with proper tools.

And then she heard a voice from outside the room - his voice... Booth's voice. She stood, walking out to take the stairs leading down to the second floor below Ellie's room.

"... didn't hear anything?" his voice became clearer as she neared, though she'd yet to see him.

"No, we already told the other agent..." another man's voice, sounding angry, frustrated, joined Booth's voice. She guessed this was Stanley Montrose, the girl's father.

"That will happen, that's just how it goes," Booth replied.

"Well if you have a new question, I'll be in my study. Otherwise, you'll just have to find someone I already gave the answer to. That's how it goes." The man walked past the stairway where Brennan stood.

As Booth watched him go, his gaze found Brennan. Neither of them moved a muscle, neither knew where they could possibly start. So, they stepped over the parts that left them uneasy and settled on the comfort zones - greetings, work...

"As I live and breathe... Bones," he gave a smirk.

"Hey Booth," she unfroze, taking a few steps forward. As though within nature, they shared a comforting hug. "Did you cut your hair?"

"A couple of times," he confirmed as they pulled away, each nodding.

"You look better..."

"Well that's good, considering how long it's been." So much rested on an inability to communicate certain things. Surprisingly, it was like both knew so subconsciouly about the other. "So, you saw," he finally indicated the room.

"Yeah. I sent Angela with the skull for ID."

"Okay," he nodded.

"Also, the feet are missing." That made him blink.

"Excuse me?"

"They left ballerina slippers in their place. They've been bagged. Ellie Montrose danced, didn't she?"

"Yeah..."

"I should get back to the lab..." she spoke after a moment.

"Yeah, okay. See you there?" She nodded, leaving after a moment. Booth watched her go quietly.

xxx

_AT THE LAB_

Angela had meant to get right to work on the skull. When she got to her desk though, she found Hodgins waiting for her. He looked on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She slowed to a stop before him. The moment he saw her coming, his eyes turned down to the skull she carried. It only made him even more shook.

"Hodgins..." she started, but he cut her off.

"Is that her?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out." That launched him into a bit of pacing, expelling a frustrated groan. "Hodgins, you... Did you know Ellie Montrose?" He looked up at her. She knew he didn't particularly enjoy discussing his 'privileged' status, but under the circumstances, the choice was quickly slipping.

"Did I know her? I saw her grow up... We were neighbors, she'd wander up all the time..." Angela wasn't sure what to do. Seeing him affected so...

"I'm sorry..." That seemed to push some focus into him.

"He'll be sorry, the guy that did this to her." Angela nodded.

"I'm going to get started on the face. Do you want to..." He hesitated, then nodded. "Okay."

By the time she was inputting the last details, Hodgins had worked himself into such abandon, she wasn't sure whether to show him the face or not. Still she fed it through and before long there it was floating before them.

No doubt about it, that was Ellie.

Hodgins slowly sat down, transfixed. Angela went to sit by him. "Are you going to be okay? I mean, to work the case..."

"Yeah," he nodded the confirmation mostly for his own sake rather than anyone else's.

"You know about the film projection?" she finally asked.

"I do..."

"You're on it," she continued.

"If it's what I think it is, I even filmed some of it myself. They asked..."

"What are you going to do? I know you didn't want Brennan to know, but I don't know how it won't reach her one way or another..." He nodded.

"I know. I'll deal with it. I owe that much to Ellie."

"You were close?"

"Ellie and her parents got along about as well as fire and ice. Found her one night hiding from them on my side of the gate. After that I told her she could just come over in those times, no need to hide."

"Do you think they..."

"No. Despite everything, it'd never get to that."

xxx

_THREE MONTHS AGO_

Booth parked near the blackened remains of the house, getting out after Brennan. As they headed up the path, Brennan looked up to what was left of the house. "In the back…" he indicated. She followed him.

"How do you know Jim?"

"We went to high school together. We kept in touch. He met Claire in college."

When they got to the back of the house, they stopped and he pointed to the dog house. It was also charred. Brennan's eyes grew wide, looking to the miniature house, then to Booth. He nodded.

"Not an accident."

"Where was Jim?"

"On a business trip in Tokyo. Alibi's airtight, so…" He looked over to her. "What now?"

"The bones?" she asked.

"I put in the call. They're en route to the lab. Jim will come in this afternoon. What about those South American remains."

"Don't worry, we'll manage. Let's go."

xxx

_TODAY_

When Brennan walked into the lab, she was handed positive ID on the skull, and she got right to work.

It was never easy to work on someone so young. The atmosphere would change, a feeling hanging in the air constantly standing to make everyone uneasy, filled with a drive to find whoever was responsible for taking them.

Added to that was the notoriety of the case. She was only mildly aware of the story herself. The previous summer she'd been called in to identify remains found, believed to be Ellie Montrose. It wasn't, but still the possibility it might have been had gotten everyone sitting up and waiting.

And then there was Booth's return. She didn't know what she'd been expecting or why she'd need to feel any different - it was partly what Angela had told her a few days ago... It had her confused really, whether she'd own up to it or not.

The way she'd felt when he... She blinked, chasing the memory away. She couldn't afford to let herself go there, not now.

But then when she went up to her office, there he was, sitting on the couch like it was any other day, like nothing had ever happened. She wasn't letting that get to her, so she went to sit at her desk.

"Angela got the ID," she told him.

"I know," he stood to approach her desk.

"What's the story, the case..."

"Well, that's still a lot of blanks. The father never allowed it to be treated as anything more than a runaway, said they'd handle this themselves."

"You let him?"

"You know Stanley Montrose?"

"The girl's father."

"Oh, he's more than that. Guy is about as powerful as they come around here. If he said his daughter ran away..."

"So you didn't investigate?"

"Sure we did. We tried. He stonewalled us the whole way. Anyone we tried to interrogate he took away from us. It was hard not to think he was involved but then that was how he generally handled things."

"But now it's murder."

"And no amount of red tape will stop us." Brennan found herself smiling.

"It's good to have you back," she finally tempted.

"Good to be back," he replied.

xxx

_THREE MONTHS AGO_

The whole team stood around the tables where the burned bodies of one adult and three children lay. Booth walked from one end to the other, sharing a set of pictures.

"Claire Hanley, 33. She worked out of their home teaching piano. Matthew Hanley, 11. He was found on the ground by his bed. Sasha Hanley, 8. She'd sleep with her mother when her father was away." He moved to the last body. "Andrea Hanley, 3. She never moved."

The others remained quiet a while, the sight of the small ones lined up before them eating all their words. Eventually, it was Angela who spoke.

"What about the father?"

"James Hanley, 35. He was in Tokyo on a business trip, flew back in yesterday. He's being kept under watch, he's… in shock."

"We have reason to believe the fire may have only been a cover up."

"Meaning?" Angela asked, if only in hope of crushing the thought.

"Meaning they could have been killed first, then burned."

As everyone got to work, Booth looked to Brennan thankfully. She nodded to him quietly before joining the others.

xxx

_TODAY_

A few hours later, Booth returned to Brennan's office. "Hey... Got something to show you."

"What is it?" He held out a disc in a case.

"The video that was splashed on the ceiling. We might have an issue." He set up the disc, the images appearing on the television.

"What is it that..."

"See the way it's playing out. They're beginning to think whoever got to Ellie might be after Meg now."

"They mixed the recording, that's not all of it." They turned at the sound of Hodgins' voice. "Can we talk?"

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 2: The Tyrant & the Knight

**THE PRINCESS IN THE TOWER**

_A/N: I finished writing the story:-D In the early stages of planning for the sequel. Anyhoo, I'm posting the chapter tonight 'cause I'll be out all AM tomorrow, maybe PM too so..._

**CHAPTER TWO - The Tyrant & the Knight**

"What's going on?" Brennan asked Hodgins.

"I haven't been completely honest with you over the years. I'm sorry about that, but it was the only way I could preserve what I wanted from life. Now I need to tip my hand a bit to keep the rest together." He looked to Booth - he knew what he was about to say.

"Okay?" Brennan blinked, clueless.

"Right, well it goes like this... My family is kind of... big money, big big money."

"You know the Cantilever Group?" Booth asked Brennan.

"Yeah?" she nodded, then it started to click. "O-oh... yeah?" she turned to Hodgins. He nodded.

"The recording?" Booth circled back on topic.

"Yeah..." Hodgins nodded. "I knew Ellie Montrose, lived next door to her family. That film, I shot some of it... they asked. Point is, it's been cut, re-arranged."

"What was the rest of it?" Brennan asked.

"They ran around a while... goofind around..." The memories made him smile. Reality melted it down before long. Brennan and Booth shared a look.

"We might be able to learn something from the original recording," Booth suggested.

"How do we do that?" Brennan asked.

"Meg Montrose. There were two copies. Meg has the other."

xxx

_THREE MONTHS AGO_

"So Jim is coming in soon. I'm going in to talk to him. I'll go in alone first then you can come in?" Booth stood in the doorway to Brennan's office.

"Okay," she nodded, still looking over a file before her, eyes locked with focus and emotion. Booth walked up a point, concerned by the look she had.

"Bones?" he asked.

"The fire department, what did they have to say about the house?" she asked, still in concentration.

"Still waiting on a full report, but suspicions as to whether it was deliberately set are definitely confirmed."

"Is it safe to visit?" she finally looked up.

"Some places are less stable than others, but it can be arranged," Booth nodded.

"No it can't." They turned to find Zach had joined them. "It was just on the news. The house exploded. They're saying something about a time delayed bomb." Booth closed his eyes. Brennan stood.

"We'll work around it," she insisted.

xxx

_TODAY_

"So... what did you do?" Brennan asked as they sat in Booth's office.

"What..." he started, unsure what she was refering to. After a moment, it came to him. "Oh..."

"Did you go out of town, or..."

"Uh, no," he shrugged, scratching at the back of his neck. "Mostly stuck home. You know, I thought I would have been more... stir crazy? But no, before long it became kind of easy to just take it slow."

"Yeah?" she resettled into her seat. He nodded. "That's good then. I mean... you needed it." He observed her looking suddenly very much the uncomfortable one.

"Something on your mind Bones?" he asked, tilting his head. She looked up at him. She was about to speak when there was a knock at Booth's door. Both of them turned to look, letting go of their conversation as they spotted Meg Montrose behind the agent who had knocked. "Miss Montrose, please come in," Booth stood to go greet her.

"Yeah," she spoke evenly, though her face told a shakier story. "You... you can call me Meg."

"Okay, have a seat. I'm Agent Booth. This is Dr. Brennan," he made the introductions.

"You were at the house," Meg spoke to Brennan as she and Booth sat.

"That's right."

"So..." she looked to be gathering up the courage to ask what she wanted to ask. "It's Ellie?"

"Yeah..." Booth answered after a moment. Meg sat there, taking it in. They could see she'd been preparing for such a revelation for quite some time. "I'm terribly sorry... You two were very close." Meg nodded, eyes welling. Brennan took the box of tissues from Booth's desk, offering it to the girl. She took one, bringing it to her eyes.

"I never told this to anyone, not my parents or..."

"What is it?" Booth asked lightly. Meg reached in her pocket, pulling out a cell phone and tapping at it.

"It was in the middle of the night, it was off so I..." Her hands shook for a second. "It's been my secret... almost two years..." She pushed one final button and sounds began to be heard, ambient... Then there came panicked breaths, and a voice...

"Meg? M-Meg, it's me... Why aren't you picking up? Is it night?" There was a pause, then it continued. "You've got to help me, h-he'll be back soon and..." A door opened, and there was a thud like the phone hit the ground. After that, Ellie's voice was further. "I didn't tell anyone, I swear... Please, why are you doing this?" she cried. "No, no, no, please... You don't have to do this... No!" The next sound was hard to identify, but what it meant was clear, especially as the sound of a body's fall accompanied it. After that, ambient sounds took over again. Footsteps approached... and the line went dead, message ended.

The room stood quietly for a minute. "When did you get that message?" Booth finally asked Meg.

"Four months after she disappeared."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Brennan asked.

"I don't know... I didn't want my father to ignore that too. Besides, he was out of town that night." Booth and Brennan shared a look. "Point is... I've known she's been gone for a long time. But this..." They knew she spoke of what she'd found that morning.

"Meg... We spoke about that recording?" Booth asked. She nodded, reaching in her bag again. She pulled out a tape.

"It's the original. Ellie's copy was gone with her... Now I guess I know where it went..." She handed the tape to Booth. "You'll give it back, right?"

"Of course," he assured her. "Did your sister have a boyfriend?" he asked.

"Dylan," she nodded. "Dylan McNeal." A second later, they heard people speaking loudly outside Booth's office. Meg's head snapped around. "Oh... that's my dad... Please don't tell him?" Brennan took Meg's phone, hid it just as Booth hid the tape. A moment later, Stanley Montrose burst into the office.

"Margaret, get down there and wait in the car." Meg scurried out, looking back at Booth and Brennan after she'd passed her father.

"Mr. Montrose..." Booth started but was cut off.

"You stay away from my daughter," Montrose pointed a finger at Booth and Brennan.

"Sir, we are investigating your other daughter's murder. If you have a problem with us trying to find out what happened to her, who did this to her, then maybe we should move this to an interrogation room." Brennan looked from Booth to Montrose and back. Neither man dared to move.

"You'll be hearing from my lawyer if I ever find out you pulled something like that again. Then he left. Booth sat back down.

"Well... this should be interesting."

xxx

_THREE MONTHS AGO_

"Jim Hanley, Dr. Temperance Brennan," Booth introduced them. Almost as though led simply by the habit of manners, Jim stood and shook Brennan's hand. His face was crushed with the weight of his sadness.

"I'm… so sorry for your loss," she shook back. He nodded and sat back down. She'd watched from behind the glass as he and Booth spoke. Jim looked like there were too many thoughts and images in his head for him to keep himself grounded.

"Jim… Have there been any threats? Anyone who…"

"For who? Claire teaches piano, the kids…" he started then stopped, painfully reminded they were gone.

"Maybe you've seen someone hanging around…" Brennan asked after a moment. Jim rubbed at his face.

"Maybe… I don't know."

"It's okay. Take your time," Booth instructed him. Jim took a moment, quietly picking away at his memories. Finally he looked up.

"Before I left, Sasha told me there was… a man who spoke to her and her friend Millie at the park. He… scared her. I told her I'd take care of it when I got back." Booth looked to Brennan. She nodded and left to get Angela while Booth asked Jim about Millie.

xxx

_TODAY_

"Let me know how the meeting with the boyfriend goes? Okay... bye," Brennan hung up, staring at the phone for a minute.

"Are you trying to make it explode or something?" She looked up to find Angela standing at the door to her office.

"Booth's meeting with Ellie's boyfriend," she explained, moving past Angela to head toward the main area of the lab.

"So Hodgins told you?" Angela followed her.

"You knew?"

"Yeah, let's not go there. I just wanted to ask you... this won't change anything, will it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Jack loves his job, what he's got here... He doesn't want to be treated any different because of his family's money..."

"He told you that?"

"Basically, yeah..."

Their conversation halted as they scanned their cards and climbed the stairs, Hodgins and Zach working not far ahead.

"What do you have so far?" Brennan asked them.

"The bones are freakishly clean, doesn't exactly give me much to do, does it?" Hodgins shook his head, his ever-present frustration on display.

"Doesn't mean you can't help," Brennan assured him. He nodded. "Zach?" she turned to him.

"Still trying to pin down the cause of death. There's a lot of damage." He looked to Hodgins for a second. "She went through hell... before and after she was killed."

"What's the most likely to you right now?" Brennan approached the bones on the table. Zach pointed over the neck.

"She was struck here, hard. Catch the artery, she bleeds out..."

"Damn it..." Hodgins muttered under his breath. Brennan remembered Meg's phone, felt it in her pocket.

"This might settle it..." she pulled it out. "You might want to step out for this," she spoke to Hodgins. He shook his head. Brennan nodded as Angela went to stand by Hodgins. Brennan retrieved the message and made it play.

"Meg? M-Meg, it's me..."

"What?" Hodgins stood straighter.

"She made the call four months after she disappeared."

"I didn't tell anyone, I swear..." Angela placed a hand on Hodgins' arm as she felt him tense up. "You don't have to do this... No!" The striking sound came, followed by the body fall. There was a long moment of silence.

"If... we can isolate that moment, I could try to identify the weapon," Zach spoke up.

"Good, that's good," Brennan nodded.

xxx

_THREE MONTHS AGO_

When Brennan looked up and saw Booth standing at the platform looking down on the lab below, she made her way up to come stand by him.

"Millie came in with her parents. Angela's working on getting a face for that man."

"Okay," he spoke looking down to his hands. Brennan saw he was holding one of the pictures of the Hanley family.

"You were close to them too, weren't you?"

"Andrea was friends with Parker. I still haven't figured out how I'm supposed to explain it to him." Brennan looked at him. She found herself searching for words too. She didn't want to go about it the wrong way.

"At his age, he might have trouble adjusting to the idea. But you'll be there to see him through. He'll be okay." He nodded to himself.

"Thanks."

"Sure." She stood back. "You should eat." He looked at her.

"Give pizza a second shot?"

"Sure," she smiled.

xxx

_TODAY_

"And here I thought you'd be hard to find, off at college or something. But here you are, in prison. You know what that makes you? My new best friend," Booth sat across from Dylan McNeal.

"What do you want?" he sat back, reluctant.

"Guess you haven't heard. We recovered the remains of Ellie Montrose." He looked up so fast Booth startled a bit.

"You did?" He brought a hand to his face, standing still a moment. "What happened to her?"

"I don't know, why don't you tell me?"

"What? You think... You think I'd hurt her? I'd never do that, not ever. I love Ellie, always..."

"Okay well let's see. Where were you on February 21st 2005?" Dylan looked confused.

"Ellie disappeared November 2nd 2004. What..."

"Yeah, she went missing in November, except she didn't die until February. Now... February 21st 2005, 3:32am..."

"Do you think I keep a log of everything I do down to the day?"

"Okay, see this is how it works. You give me proof you were somewhere that's not the crime scene at the time Ellie Montrose was killed, and I don't have to get... persistent." Dylan sat back, searching his head for a memory. Then he sat up.

"What day of the week was it?"

"It was a Monday."

"Yeah, I think I got it." Booth waited, but Dylan didn't speak. He made an 'and then' gesture. "I can't tell you."

"Why not?" He thought about it, then chuckled. "You were pulling a job, is that it?" Dylan remained silent, but Booth got his answer. "Tell you what... I won't tell anyone I know about it provided it didn't go beyond property. I hear people got hurt, then we might have a problem."

"Well it's not like it worked anyway. We left empty handed."

"Wow... I can't imagine why Stanley Montrose didn't like you." Dylan looked puzzled once again. "Yeah, see I didn't know he was refering to you at the time, let's just say his vocabulary was just..." he made a gesture to punctuate. "So what was the job?"

"Pawn shop on fifth."

"Okay..." Booth stood. "I'll look into that." As he turned to leave, Dylan spoke again.

"I don't like him either." Booth turned back.

"Why's that?"

"You should ask him why they were sending her to Carver's. Actually, ask Mrs. Montrose. At least she won't lie."

"Anything else?" Booth asked.

"Yeah... How's Meg?"

"How do you think?"

"Look, I know you don't trust me right now, but this is the absolute truth. I loved Ellie more than anyone in this world. I'd have given my life for her. You know what that's like?"

**TBC**


	4. Chapter 3: To protect her

**THE PRINCESS IN THE TOWER**

_A/N: So there was the whole issue of no alerts or something last week... hope it didn't inconvenience anyone... and hope that it goes through this time ;) And finally you'll be able to ask less 'what happened three months ago?' :D_

**CHAPTER THREE - To protect her**

That night when Brennan got home, she was exhausted, but at the same time she couldn't stop her brain from running around.

After changing to be more comfortable and taking out the leftovers she'd stuck in the oven when she'd arrived, she sat to some research sitting there on the table. She ate and read in silence. When the phone rang, she dropped her fork. She stood to grab the handset.

"Hello?"

"Hey..." she gasped to herself - Booth.

"Hi..."

"Hope I'm not bothering you."

"No, it's alright," she assured him. "What's going on?"

"I couldn't sleep."

"Why not?" There was a pause. "Booth?"

"Do you ever... think about it? What happened?" Her heart raced, a feeling that was growing too familiar... everytime she thought about it.

"Yeah... I do. Couldn't help it if I wanted to."

"I get these nightmares now and then... Never talked about it, but I thought... you might know..."

"I get them too."

"Ever get afraid to fall asleep because of them?"

"Yes..." she admitted after a moment.

"You going to be okay tonight?" he asked.

"I think I will," she realized and answered at once.

"Goodnight Bones."

"Night..."

xxx

_THREE MONTHS AGO_

"Booth, stop!" Brennan rushed into the interrogation room when he pulled the man sitting across from him up to his feet. He looked back at her, let go of him after a moment. The man coughed for air. "Sit," she told Booth. The look he gave her told here there was only so much strategy in this. Part of him needed the truth too much for his own good.

"Fine," he sat. "You talk to him." Brennan took a seat next to him. The man Millie and Sasha had seen was homeless now - though once upon a time he had served three years in prison. When they'd finally found him, he was brought in.

"Mr. Caplan... You were identified by a girl who claims you were trying to draw her and a friend away from surveillance." The man took a while before he looked at her.

"I didn't touch those girls, a-any girl..." He looked back down to his hands. "All I had to do was talk to them." Both Booth and Brennan paused to process this.

"What do you mean?" Brennan asked.

"All I had to do was... find out who'd pick up the short one." Booth's reaction indicated it was Sasha.

"Who asked you?" Caplan looked up at him.

xxx

_TODAY_

The next morning, Booth and Brennan waited until Stanley Montrose left for work before going up to the door. They were taken to see Louise Montrose. She sat near the pool, staring off into the distance.

"Mrs. Montrose?" She looked up. "I'm Agent Booth, this is Dr. Brennan from the Jeffersonian Institute. Can we talk?" She seemed to hesitate, but finally she indicated the free chairs around the patio table.

"My husband wouldn't like me talking to you," she spoke, still staring off into nowhere.

"Yeah, we know," Booth nodded. "We still need to do this."

"Fine," Louise sat up, pushing her sunglasses to sit on her head as she looked to them.

"Did anything out of the ordinary catch your attention over the night? A disruptive noise that woke you maybe?" Brennan asked.

"I tell you, Stanley's talking of suing the security company. For all we pay them and then this happens?" her voice shuddered with the memory.

"We spoke with Dylan McNeal yesterday," Booth told her. She scoffed.

"I heard he finally ended up right where he belonged. I'm sure he had something to do with it."

"He's in prison..." Brennan pointed out.

"He could have an accomplice."

"Well, we checked his alibi for the night Ellie was killed. He didn't do it," Booth revealed.

"Well then..."

"He did have a lot to say about you and your husband though... About you sending Ellie to the Carver School," Booth went on. That got her even more worked up.

"He would, wouldn't he? Before she met that kid she was a good girl. She was. She did as she was told, did well in everything... He got her in trouble."

"With all due respect Mrs. Montrose, I'm sure Ellie was smart enough to make her own decisions. Just because you didn't see..."

"Bones..." Booth interrupted her, eyes still locked on Louise Montrose. "I don't think she meant that kind of trouble." Brennan looked to him. He discreetly made the gesture of a belly in the air. Brennan understood.

"I didn't find any signs of this when we examined the bones..."

"You think we'd let her go through with it?" Louise spoke indingnently.

"What happened?" Booth asked.

"I wanted to take her to a clinic... She wouldn't go, and Stanley didn't want her to be seen there."

"What happened?" Booth repeated, more forcefully. She pushed her glasses back down, like she didn't want them seeing her eyes as she spoke.

"Our family doctor came. We got her to comply."

"Meaning you drugged her," Brennan translated. Louise didn't react. "She didn't want to get rid of it, did she?"

"Do you think we would just let her throw away her future to go play house with a felon? She was sixteen years old!"

"That still doesn't give you the right to abort her by knocking her out and taking her choice away. You violated her..."

"Bones..." Booth stepped in.

"I think you two should go before I call Stanley."

"Yeah, we're going. Come on Bones," he pulled Brennan up and led her out of the house.

"You're just going to let them get away with that?" Brennan protested to Booth.

"Of course not. Right now though I still need to be able to question her without having her shut down on me. Don't worry, I won't forget this." She calmed at that.

"We should talk to Hodgins," she suggested. He nodded.

xx

"Are you alright?" Brennan asked Hodgins once they'd told him what had happened with Louise Montrose.

"Can I be both?" he shook his head. After a moment, he spoke again. "That was two weeks before she disappeared."

"How do you know?" Booth asked.

"She came over one night, as she was used to. Except that night she looked different. She was angry, but she was scared too... sad..."

"She must have felt so... betrayed," Angela shook her head.

"The lengths people will go to maintain their image..." Booth commented. "Are we so sure Stanley Montrose wouldn't go too far?"

"I don't know at this point," said Hodgins.

"Maybe it wasn't his plan..." They looked to Angela. "I know my mother was big on the scare tactics."

"Are you saying maybe he got someone to take her? Scare her straight?" Booth asked.

"But then the plan backfired..." Brennan concluded.

"Okay... time to bring in Stanley Montrose."

xxx

_THREE MONTHS AGO_

"Tell me what happened." Brennan looked to Booth. He was keeping his eyes firmly on the road ahead. "What'd he do to them, before the fire."

"Booth..." she hesitated.

"Please?" he looked to her briefly. She looked down a moment.

"There were no marks on Andrea. From the reports I got, it's possible she was drugged. Matthew's arms were broken in a way that would suggest someone forced him down strongly, a struggle... It would indicate a second assailant."

"Why was he on the ground?" Booth asked with a dry throat.

"Could be he managed to slip away a moment, but then..." She paused a moment. "Claire and Sasha were killed by gunshots. Position suggests Claire was shielding Sasha but one went through and through Claire into Sasha." Booth struck the steering wheel, making Brennan jump.

"When we get there, I want you to stay outside."

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"These guys... I can't have you anywhere near them, I..."

"Okay, I'll stay outside..." she blinked, speaking slowly.

"Okay."

XXX

_TODAY_

"Yeah... alright, thanks," Booth hung up, walking back over to Brennan. "Stanley Montrose is in Tokyo."

"What?"

"When he left this morning? He was on his way to the airport. Business never stops."

"We just found his daughter's remains and he goes on a business trip?"

"Either he's running or he's way too job minded. Either way, we won't be able to talk to him until tomorrow at least. There is one good thing to this... Now he can't step in to slow us down."

"So what now?" Brennan asked.

"Well back when Ellie first went missing, like I said, he kept barging into our attempts to do... anything. Those people we tried to interrogate might have something to say."

"Okay, let's go," she nodded, heading out. Booth had to run up to catch up to her. In the car, he ran down the list.

"There were three people we wanted to speak to in particular. The dance teacher, Stanley's partner, and a teacher from Ellie's school."

"Where are we going now?"

"Dance teacher. Sandra Murdoch."

"On the phone message, Ellie refered to her captor as 'he'. Think she might lead us to him?"

"Maybe..."

When they arrived at the dance school, they were told to wait, as Miss Murdoch's class was almost over. They sat in her office.

As they waited, Brennan watched Booth pace. There was something different between the Booth of day, working, and the Booth who had called her last night... He wouldn't let himself go there with a case on the line. She could understand that. But there was still so much she wanted to know.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," she looked up to find Sandra Murdoch walking in. She shook Booth's hand, then Brennan's.

"It's alright. Thank you for seeing us." They all sat.

"So... I'm assuming you're here about Ellie?" Booth nodded. "It's terrible. We were all hoping she'd return to us one day. Such a beautiful dancer..."

"When was the last time you saw Ellie Montrose?" Booth asked her.

"A few days before she disappeared. She came to withdraw from her classes. I asked her why she'd want to do that. She said she was going to school out of state. I tried to get her to look into classes near her new school, but she refused. She'd been... despondent, like her heart wasn't in it anymore. She got a little better near the end, but then she quit. And then..." she let the sentence trail.

"Do you know if anyone might have been looking to hurt her?" Brennan asked.

"Not that I recall," she shook her head. "Everyone loved her..."

"If you think of anything, please give us a call," he handed Sandra his card.

"I will," she nodded. Once again they were back in the car.

"She looks so happy in that video..." Brennan commented, staring out the window as they drove.

"I have a feeling she might have wanted to keep up appearances. For her sister's sake..."

"Where are we going now?" Brennan asked.

"Patrick Pierce, as in 'Montrose & Pierce inc.' He was leaving on a later flight, we intercepted."

"Great," Brennan nodded.

"Bring back any memories?" Booth asked with a smirk as they walked through the airport.

They arrived to where they'd kept Pierce waiting. The man sat there, the picture of frustrated impatience - places to go, money to earn...

"Good morning Mr. Pierce," Booth greeted him.

"What is this about?" he asked, staring the two of them down, sizing them up...

"Don't you read the paper, watch the news? Better yet, don't you talk to your partner?" He sat back.

"Ellie."

"Ellie," Booth nodded once.

"What do you want to know? I'm happy to help."

"Already more cooperative than your buddy Stan, that's good," Booth sat across from Pierce.

"Stanley was raised by his father after his mother died. The two of them are the same," Patrick explained.

"I see," Booth nodded. "You've known him a long time."

"Since before we were teenagers. We stuck by each other the whole way. After that, it was a natural leap for us to go into business together."

"And you never disagreed on anything?"

"Well sure... We're friends, but it doesn't mean we always agree."

"That's good. I'm kind of banking on your being able to put that loyalty on hold so you can be honest with me. Do you have any reason to believe Stanley Montrose may have had some part in Ellie's disappearance and murder?"

"That's absurd," Pierce sat up.

"Is it? So you're saying there's no way he could have been involved, even on the off chance the end result was not HIS planned result?" He remained silent. "Is that a yes or a no?" More silence.

"I don't know if this is anything..." Booth signaled to go on.

XXX

_THREE MONTHS AGO_

"Dr. Brennan, stay behind the truck," the agent told her again. She made a face, taking a reluctant step back.

"It's been too long, he should have come out by now, called in about something," she insisted. Almost on cue, the agent's radio came alive and she could hear Booth's voice.

"We've got explosives here, everyone back it up now!"

"Booth..." she whispered before someone grabbed her and started pulling her back as everyone else started to move as well. "Wait!" she protested. She tried to wrestle herself free and she didn't know whether it was because of everything happening at the moment, but she couldn't find focus enough to achieve freedom.

"Settle down!" the agent told her.

"You can't just let it go down like this, send backup, something..."

"I am not in the position to..."

"Well get in it!"

"Dr. Bren..." He stopped as the sounds of explosions swallowed them whole.

And all she could do was watch everything fall apart.

**TBC**


	5. Chapter 4: One day

**THE PRINCESS IN THE TOWER**

_A/N: So this whole chapter is set three months ago. Hopefully you guys will get some of those much sought out answers :) And thank you thank you for all the kind words. You guys are awesome :)_

**CHAPTER 4 - One day**

_THREE MONTHS AGO_

Angela, Hodgins, Zack, and Goodman were called back to the Jeffersonian with very little detail - something had happened they needed to be informed on, that was as far as they knew as one by one they walked through the doors of the lab. Goodman was called elsewhere first.

Zack noticed Dr. Brennan up in the main area. He nudged the others to look. Though her back was turned to them, her posture told them right away something was off. They walked up the stairs as their cards were scanned.

"Dr. Brennan?" Zack called slowly. She didn't respond. From what they saw, she was placing the remains of the Hanley family so they could be sent for burial. "We're… here," he tried.

"Okay," was the minimal response he got.

"What happened?" Angela asked. Brennan put down the bone she was holding before turning to face them, taking a shuddering breath. Her gaze wandered, but they could tell she'd been crying. "What…" Angela started again.

"We went to find the suspect in the Hanley case. He told me to stay outside." She paused, only for a moment, too short for them to be able to ask who she might be referring to, even though it should have been clear. "There were explosives, the building went down…" This sent the three into a clamor.

"But he got out, didn't he?" Hodgins asked hopefully. She couldn't reply. She turned, returning to her previous task with the same intent she'd had before. They stood shell shocked for a while. After a minute, Angela walked up to stand next to Brennan, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you…" She stopped. There was no point in asking whether she was alright. Just by looking at her, it was clear it wouldn't be alright, not now if ever. "You should go home."

"I don't want to," Brennan continued to work, moving to the next table. "I need you to wrap things up, get everything ready to just… go," she spoke to them without necessarily looking at any of them. They didn't argue it. One by one they joined in.

When Goodman came along, he went to Brennan. Picking up on her state, he got right to business. "Got you that address you wanted." Once again she dropped what she was doing before looking at Goodman. He handed her the sheet. "Are you sure about this?"

"I need to wash up," she cleared out of there, leaving the other four to stand in silence.

"I just can't… believe it," Angela spoke, choked up a little. Hodgins took the three steps over to lightly touch her arm. She looked over with a short smile.

"What's going to happen now?" Zack asked.

"We do the job," Hodgins nodded, sharing another look with Angela.

In the ladies' room, Brennan ran some water, splashed it on her face. Her hands hadn't stopped shaking, her ears hadn't stopped ringing, her heart was still seeking a regular beat. Now though she had something to focus on, something she needed to do.

She looked up into the mirror. She couldn't see herself. All she saw was him, the last time… He'd turned to look at her a split second before going through the door. Ever since he'd specifically told her she shouldn't go in, the air of a different danger hung around her. The seconds ticked away. Each one that went by made the wait so much more unbearable, but she had to keep to it.

When she found herself again in the mirror, she came right back on track with what she needed to do. That last look would replay in her mind, and she saw in it some understanding, a dreaded "if I don't come back…"

She left the Jeffersonian, checking out the address Goodman had given her. She looked at her watch - it was after ten, but she needed to do this now, before it might reach the news. She wouldn't allow for it to go down that way. Getting in her car, she drew the windows down to let the air fill her lungs.

Fifteen minutes later, she pulled up to the house. The whole ride over, she tried to think of what she was supposed to say. Booth was always so much better at these things. He knew what to say. Now to be placed in this position on her own, over someone who was much more than a case… It made her stomach churn. With one more push for courage, she got out of the car and went to ring the bell.

A woman answered the door. When Brennan introduced herself, apologizing for the late hour, the truth of her reason for visiting became evident to the woman. It was indeed Rebecca. She was stricken, and Brennan stood silently, searching for her words.

"I realize he must be sleeping, but…"

"He's up. We went to the movies earlier, he won't tire easily when we do…" she explained, a brief balance found in discussing her son.

"Would it be alright if I spoke with him?" Rebecca reflected briefly, finally stepping aside to let Brennan in. She guided her toward the living room. He sat on the couch, legs hopping about as his eyes remained fixated on the screen as his mouth would split into a smile at the images of whatever it was he was watching. Rebecca looked to Brennan before going to sit by the boy. She drew his attention, speaking briefly. He nodded as Rebecca stood, turning off the television. She stepped back, allowing Brennan to step forward.

He looked up at her with those eyes and she hated so much of what she was about to have to do, to tell him… She swallowed up her fears, coming to sit down in front of him.

"Hey Parker…"

xx

When Brennan arrived home an hour later, it was the first time she felt the events finally crash into reality. She trailed along toward her kitchen, drained… She knew she couldn't sleep if she tried. It had been only a few hours since the explosion and she was still trying to make sense of it. She couldn't do that either.

Parker had been confused by all of it, and on that she rode a similar path. He'd been braver than she would have imagined. It was possible there was some interference of shock, denial… She had that too. In the end she let Rebecca step in and comfort him. To bring him that comfort, she would have to give sense to the senseless where she still couldn't.

For what seemed an eternity, she tried to commit herself to some activity, give her mind a break so maybe sleep would come. Tried eating, couldn't stomach it… tried reading, the same line passed and passed… tried to clean, she got nowhere… She looked at the clock only to find barely ten minutes had passed. Frustrated, she left.

She got in her car again, drove with no true purpose. It was an activity, something she could give herself to that would hopefully lead her to a solution.

It led her back to the Jeffersonian. Things there usually made sense. It was dead silent - everyone had left. Every sound was suddenly amplified. Standing there, she searched for a task. Then she remembered, Booth's voice like the voice of her mind. What about those South American remains?

She went to retrieve them. The last few days, they hadn't actually gotten around to them. But all of a sudden, it was all she could do. All of a sudden, she was a woman possessed. Her body asked for sleep, but her mind had gotten a second wind.

For hours, she worked through them, worked until there was nothing that could be done anymore. Her eyes felt so wide, frozen, like they'd break if she tried closing them. Her fingers protested every bend, wrists resisted the larger motions.

She didn't want to stop. She went up to her office to find a file. It was on the table nearby, by the couch. She sat a moment to look at the file, but finally her body got the upper hand, striking against more work. Finally, sleep took her.

There were no dreams, no nightmares, just a vast nothing. When she started waking again, it was the sounds that reached her first, activity… Eyes finally opened, still heavy from exertion, it took a moment for her vision to clear. She blinked, looking to the side. She saw Angela sitting at her desk, working at a sketch. Sensing the motions perhaps, Angela looked over. Finding Brennan awake, she put her things down and walked over.

"Hey…" she spoke in a soothing voice. "When did you come back in?" Brennan slowly sat up, not so much on any other kind of movement yet.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Little after ten. Were you here all night?" Angela persisted in her attempts to get some information out of her.

"Couldn't sleep," she rubbed her eyes. Slowly the previous night started playing in her mind again. The eyes shuddered closed again, the edges of a whimper being heard. Angela sat by her side, draping an arm around her shoulders.

"Do you need anything? When's the last time you ate?" Brennan tried to guess, couldn't remember. "I'll get you something."

"I can walk, Ang…" she looked over at her.

"That's good. Come on, let's go…"

After breakfast, which Angela made sure she ate, Brennan went back to the lab. As soon as she got there though, Goodman halted her, telling her to go home and rest.

"I slept," she insisted.

"Rest doesn't restrict itself to sleep. Now, you have yourself a day off… use it." Once she'd nodded, he let go of the authoritarian figure, turning to concern. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

Once again she got in her car, and again she auto-piloted herself. When she stopped the car, she looked out to what was left of the building. They were still going through the mountain of debris… sorting, noting… She wasn't seeing anything in the manner of bodies, remains… and she didn't know what to think of it.

Booth was still in there… She didn't want to have to think about him in that context, cursed her knowledge for once, knowing what it was likely to be.

She didn't want to cry again, but apparently that wasn't under her control. The first time she'd cried, the night before… She wanted to believe, standing there among the chaos that followed the explosion, that what her mind told her was wrong. He couldn't be gone… He was Booth, he'd get through this, just like he'd gotten through so much already. But it wasn't happening. And she cried.

She didn't know what to do with herself for a while, just sitting in her car. She'd have to get through this eventually, wouldn't she? At some point, life would have to go on. But how was she supposed to get there if all she could think about was how much it tore her apart that he was gone? Goodman was right… she had to rest. The concept was twisted at this moment. She'd always find something to do, today would have to be just the same. Pulling together some confidence, she started her car and drove home.

The last few hours had been a constant back and forth… lab to site, site to lab, lab to Rebecca's, Rebecca's to home, home to lab, lab to site, site to home… When she got in, she sat on her couch, taking breaths where she could. Her head was spinning with so much information and she couldn't bear the headache that was building up.

Eventually, she stood and headed to the bathroom, starting the shower. She went to get a CD for the radio. After climbing into the shower, she stood and let the water wash over her for over an hour. It was soothing, if only a little. All she knew was that she needed to keep moving, keep thinking, couldn't let her mind settle and go places it shouldn't… places she didn't want it to go.

Getting out of the shower, she stood in her robe, looking for her next distraction. It was almost one in the afternoon. She really wished she could escape, but she could only admit how she couldn't carry herself if she tried. Defeated, she crashed into bed, looking up at the ceiling. Every little hum of an appliance melded into a single hypnotizing buzzing.

At two, she picked up the phone and dialed up the lab. "Hodgins," he replied.

"Hey, what are you all doing?" Brennan asked.

"Hey Mom…" he answered in a cheerful voice.

"Mom?" she repeated. Eventually she got it. "Goodman tell you not to call?"

"Something like that…"

"And he's there?"

"Exactly. How's everything?"

"I'm relaxing, I promise… so can we talk, please?"

"Yeah, okay, he's on to us. You sure you're okay?"

"Will be… I think. Just give me something?"

"We're finishing up on that South American shipment. How long did you work last night?" He paused for a moment, and she thought she heard some whispers. "Angela says hello, and that she'll stop by when she leaves tonight."

"Okay," she responded after some silence.

After hanging up, Brennan dialed again. Within fifteen minutes she had herself a load of Chinese takeout. The way she saw it, leftovers would be her best friend over the days to come.

She had never been so aware of time, and that didn't help to make it go by faster. Around five, her doorbell rang. When she answered she found a smiling Angela. "If anyone asks, I'm coming down with something so I cut out early. Pizza?" she held out the two large boxes. Her eyes drifted past Brennan as she picked up on a scent. "And you already ordered."

"Uh, lunch… I can always use more…" she allowed her in. Soon they sat with their slices, facing each other.

"They're like kids when mom's away… more so than usual. And… we all miss him." Brennan looked down to the slice in her place, picking at it. "Think you're ready?"

"Ready for what?"

"Talking… about what happened." Brennan continued to pick at her pizza.

"I don't know."

"Okay. Just don't take it out on the pizza?" That got her to smile a little.

"Are they… is it on the news?" she tempted, picking up the bits she'd wedged out to eat.

"We saw a report. They're not saying what happened or who was involved." After a moment, she went on. "They haven't recovered any bodies or…" Brennan took a few breaths. "Where'd you go last night, the address Goodman gave you…"

"Booth's son." She looked up to Angela. "I went to talk to him." Angela took this in, nodding to herself.

"I'm staying with you tonight. No argument," she added before Brennan could comment. She smiled.

"No argument. Thank you."

"Anytime."

Having her there did manage to help. The hours didn't drag by as much though they were still painfully long. A little after eight thirty, Angela went home to get some things after which she'd come back.

Alone again, Brennan sat at the window, looking out at the night sky. The city out there was buzzing along like any other day. She would have been one of them if not for the previous night… what did it mean?

It took two rings of the phone before she noticed it, another two before she got to answer. "Hello?"

"Dr. Brennan?" she recognized the voice.

"Agent Morgan…" she confirmed. She had gotten to a good place where she thought maybe, just maybe, she would sleep that night. Having Agent Morgan calling her now… she didn't want to crumble again. "What do…"

"We found Agent Booth."

Her skin crawled at that moment, her legs shook and she turned to sit against the window ledge. "You did."

"Yes…"

"Okay, that's… that's good. Thank you," she started to hang up before she heard her name called again.

"Dr. Brennan, wait, you don't understand. We found Booth… He's alive." She almost lost it, certain her ears were mounting a terrible deception.

"Say that again?"

"He's alive. He's in bad shape now, but he should make it." She sat there, feeling her heart suddenly beat again with drive she'd lost before. "Dr. Brennan?"

**TBC**


	6. Chapter 5: New problems

**THE PRINCESS IN THE TOWER**

_A/N: So evidently it didn't answer ALL your questions ;) Fear not, there should be more to it somewhere down the line :)_

**CHAPTER 5 - New problems**

_TODAY_

The moment they knew Stanley Montrose's plane had landed and he'd left the airport that night, Booth had picked up Brennan and they had headed to the Montrose home.

She'd had the feeling - since they'd left Patrick Pierce - that Booth would want to confront Montrose the moment it was possible. So she stuck around the lab after the day was done. The call came in at 11:40pm.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked as they turned a sharp corner.

"He couldn't just be an ass, could he?" he spoke to no one in particular.

"Might want to let me do the talking," she replied after a moment. He remained silent a few seconds.

"Yeah, alright."

When they got to the house, they met mild resistence at the door before finally being allowed through. They found Stanley and Louise out back just as they'd found Louise earlier.

"Mr. and Mrs. Montrose?" Brennan spoke up. They turned.

"Is there such a thing as privacy anymore?"

"Under the circumstances you'll understand we didn't have many other options," Brennan explained.

"Circumstances?" Louise asked. Stanley looked at her and she shrunk back.

"We spoke to Patrick Pierce. He told us about what happened at a benefit dinner of September 18th 2004. He said he walked into a room to find Ellie shaking on the ground, cut lip, clothes displaced, with you standing over her."

Louise's eyes turned up, going from her husband to Brennan. Stanley for his part looked like he'd been slapped in the face.

"I found her that way. She wouldn't say what happened. How dare you..." Booth couldn't remain quiet anymore.

"Is that so?"

"It is," Stanley stood his ground.

"Bones?" he spoke without looking away from Montrose. She pulled an envelope from her bag, taking out and showing a set of pictures one at a time. "We pulled security footage from that night. As luck would have it, one camera was able to capture these."

As Brennan showed the string of photos showing Ellie running into the room - intact - and followed by her father, Stanley looked on with a firm face as Louise's face seemed to lose more and more resolve with each shot.

"Stanley..." her voice was pleading, that what they were telling her, what she was seeing, was not what she was imagining. He remained silent.

"Now it's late. I'm sure we all want to sleep. We'll be expecting you at 10 sharp. If you're not there, I'll make sure you're brought in... Are we clear?" Booth spoke coolly.

"Fine," Stanley replied quietly.

"Night folks," Booth nodded. "Let's go," he told Brennan and they left.

They were quiet on the way to the car and a lot of the ride. Brennan tried to look at him a couple of times. She worried for him, facing this case so soon after his return. Of course he'd been through things likely much worse over his career. Still she couldn't help honing into this single event which had truly turned things upside down.

When they pulled up to her place, she found herself turning to him. "Want to come up? I'm starving, a-and I always end up with too much..." Deep down she didn't want him to go and sit alone at home at this time. He smirked.

"Sounds good. Mind if I do the cooking?"

"I was just going to order..." she smiled.

"Dialing," he substituted.

"Deal," she nodded.

Half an hour later, they sat on the couch eating. "I haven't had this since... before," he shook his head after swallowing his bite.

"Yeah, me neither," she nodded. "Have you spoken to Jim since... before," she used the same construct.

"I call him at least once a week, check up. He's still trying to pull himself together. At least he can know that we caught the men who took his family. He still feels responsible though."

"He couldn't have known they'd come at them..."

"Took him for someone else and that's what he got."

They continued eating a while, doing their best to stay away from depressing topics. Eventually the conversation veered into the very simple.

"Favorite holiday? And don't go squint on me," he instructed with a wave of his fork.

"I promise," she smirked. "I like... Halloween. Not so much the candy, just... becoming someone else for a night. When we were little, my brother and I would think long and hard about our costumes. It could take weeks sometimes." Booth nodded.

"I just wanted chocolate."

"Okay, there is that," she shrugged. He laughed at that. "I'm full, can't eat..." she sighed.

"Yeah, me neither." He looked like he was going to fall asleep at any minute.

"I can bring you a pillow and a blanket..." she suggested.

"I wouldn't want to..." he tried to say.

"You're not," she promised. Finally he nodded.

"But in the morning I'm making breakfast," he called after her as she headed to bed.

"Alright," she called back.

xx

"Hey... I thought you were coming to the lab first," Angela asked Brennan over the phone the next morning. Brennan stood outside the interrogation room, phone in one hand and coffee in the other, all the while doing the same up flicker of the eyes toward the clock as Booth was doing.

9:57:36. No sign of Stanley Montrose. Every few minutes, Booth would add a head shake and a mutter to his clock checks.

"Yeah well I drove in with Booth."

"He picked you up?"

"No, he was at my place." There was silence, except for the sound of what she guessed to be a pencil hitting the floor.

"You and Booth..."

"No, no, he just stayed over, slept on the couch," she corrected her.

9:58:02. Flicker, stare, and mutter.

"Okay, but still..."

"Look, I'll talk to you later."

"Alright. But don't think you're getting off that easy!"

After she hung up, Brennan took a few steps toward Booth. "Maybe he hit traffic."

"He's either taunting us or he's looking for a fight. The way I see it right now either way it goes there'll be punches involved."

"Then don't let him get away with it," she threw away her empty cup. Together they waited until the last hand finished its trip around the clock to hit ten o'clock. She turned to him. "Let's go pay him a visit." He looked back.

"Why don't we," he agreed.

They were on the road soon, making it swiftly through the streets - no traffic here. Then Booth's phone rang. "Don't tell me he finally showed up," he answered. There was a pause, and Booth's face fell. "Okay, be right there." He hung up and hit the gas and they took off rapidly.

"Booth?" Brennan sat back in her seat. "What was that?"

"Shots fired at 37 Kenneth Road."

"That's Montrose..."

"Yeah."

When they got there, Booth took out his gun as he got out of the car. Brennan followed, unarmed. He gave her a look and she knew to stay behind. He broke down the door and they went up the staircase. Instinct led them toward Meg's room, but then they heard a sob. It was coming from the master bedroom. They slowly made their approach and Booth pushed the door.

Just inside, Meg sat on the floor, weeping. Louise Montrose sat on the edge of her bed, eerily peaceful with the sunlight streaming over her to make her hair shine. She held a gun, resting in her lap.

There was the mixed recording over the ceiling again, silent this time. Added right in the middle of it were four words: "Keep your baby close."

On the ground by the brightest spot in the room, Stanley Montrose lay in a pool of his blood, dead eyes staring up.

"Oh god..." Booth whispered. Brennan crouched down at Meg's side. The girl couldn't be moved.

"He sent her home that night," Louise spoke limply.

"Mrs. Montrose, it's Agent Booth. It's alright, just give me the gun..." he spoke reassuringly.

"I asked him where Ellie had gotten off to. He said she'd been sick so he'd sent her home with the driver." She looked down to her hands, the gun, then up to Meg sitting on the ground. "I didn't want this life for you girls... didn't want it for myself... I just didn't know any other way. I made a mess of things... I'm sorry honey... I'm so sorry..."

She had the gun to her head before they could stop her. "No!" Booth cried as Brennan instinctively covered up Meg's eyes.

Booth tried to stop her, but it was too late. After the deafening boom of the shot, everything stood still again save for Meg's heavings.

"Bones, get her out of here," Booth told her, still in shock. Silently she managed to pick up Meg and take her out into the hall.

"Meg..." she tried to talk to her, but what was there to say? No words could fix this. "Are you hurt?" she asked her, trying to see.

"I heard screaming..." she spoke, much in the same faraway voice as her mother - faraway where this wasn't how their lives had become. "I came up to the door and I was going to knock... And then... And then," she got choked up as heavier tears rumbled up from within. Brennan gathered her in her arms, let her cry. Hearing a step, she looked up to find Booth standing at the door.

"I put the call in. They're coming," he explained.

"I'm taking her to the lab. She shouldn't be here for this," she replied. He nodded and gave her the car keys.

"Want me to carry her down?" he asked.

"It's alright. I got her," she assured him, picking up the girl - she kept hanging on to her - and heading for the stairs.

After placing Meg in the front next to her, Brennan took off for the lab. As they drove, they passed one news van then another, both heading the way they'd just come from like their lives depended on it.

When they arrived at the lab, Meg was still on the distant side, but she held on to Brennan's hand as they walked in like it was her last lifeline. She didn't look at anything, she just walked with Brennan. As they approached the main area, she spotted Hodgins, Angela, and Zach ahead. Hodgins saw her, then Meg, and walked over, still unaware of what had happened she could tell.

"Miss Margaret... Fancy meeting you here."

"Hodgins..." Brennan stopped him. Finally he noticed Meg's PJs, her expression.

"What happened?" Brennan looked down to Meg before she spoke to explain to him.

"Louise Montrose shot her husband, then herself." She didn't need to tell him how it had come down. He knew from Meg's face that they were gone.

"Meg... Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't..."

"Can you stay with her? I need to check in with Booth."

"Yeah, absolutely," he nodded. Brennan looked to Meg.

"I'll be back to check on you, alright?"

"Yeah..." she nodded slowly, letting go of her hand. Brennan gave Hodgins one last look before heading off to do as she'd said.

Hodgins stood next to Meg for a while, unsure what to do. What he'd had with Ellie, he also had to a degree with Meg. He'd known these girls since they were infants. But they never really covered appropriate procedure following parents' murder-suicide.

"Have you had anything to eat today?" She shook her head. "Are you hungry?" She shrugged, then nodded a few seconds later. "Okay, let's go then. I think you've got an ice cream coming your way... a big one."

xx

"Hey, how's she doing?" Booth asked Brennan when she called him.

"Hanging in there but pretty out of it. She's with Hodgins right now. How are things over there?"

"About as well as can be expected. It's a nightmare out there."

"I know, we passed a couple of news vans on the way."

"Well it's open and shut as far as Stanley and Louise Montrose. The gun's registered to Stanley."

"What does this mean for Ellie's case?" she asked. He was silent for a moment, except for a sigh.

"I don't know. Although at this point I don't think we lost our killer this morning, you know?"

"Yeah..." she nodded to herself.

"I should get back. I'll meet you at the Jeffersonian when I'm done here."

"Okay. Bye."

xx

Hodgins sat across from Meg, both of them working their way through the ice cream in small bites. Meg looked just about hypnotized.

"Meg?" he asked. She looked up. "Is there anyone you'd like us to call? An aunt or uncle?" She thought.

"There's Uncle Mike."

"He's nice?" he asked. He wanted her to be somewhere different, somewhere better.

"He got the camera for me and Ellie. He lives in Arizona," she explained.

"What does he do for a living?"

"He has a music store, sells instruments."

"Okay," he smiled. "We'll call Uncle Mike." After a moment, she looked up at him.

"You work with Dr. Brennan?" she asked.

"I do. But you have to keep it a secret, okay?"

"Okay... So, you're working on Ellie?"

"Yes," he confirmed.

"Did you find him yet? The one who did that?"

"We're working on it. We'll find him, I promise."

"Can I help?" Her look said it all... give me something else to think of.

"You might. Can you think of anything out of the ordinary from around the time Ellie went missing?" She thought about it for a while.

"I heard my mother on the phone one time. She sounded angry," she finally spoke.

"Okay. When was this?"

"A couple of weeks before."

"What was she saying?" Again, Meg thought.

"She said that she couldn't go somewhere, that my dad was getting suspicious. He'd find out." Hodgins sat up.

"Do you know who she was talking to?"

"No. She called him Mr. Number 2."

"Mr. Number 2?" he repeated.

"It's all I can remember," she resumed working through the ice cream, which was quickly melting.

"It's okay. You did good."

After the ice cream, he took her back to the lab. It was when they arrived that he figured it out - Number 2... the partner.

**TBC**


	7. Chapter 6: The Secrets & Lies

**THE PRINCESS IN THE TOWER**

**CHAPTER 6 - The Secrets and Lies of Louise Montrose**

When Hodgins and Meg arrived at the Jeffersonian, she asked to take a nap. He set her up on a couch, promising that he'd be near when she woke up. Soon she slept. He looked for Angela and waved her over.

"It's all over the news," she whispered, looking to Meg on the couch.

"Yeah, it would be..." he whispered back. "I'm going to be here for a while," he indicated the immediate area around them.

"Okay," she nodded. "Do you need anything?

"I do actually. The original recording..." She nodded again. "Where are Brennan and Booth?"

"Booth's still at the Montrose home. Brennan's up in her office last I saw."

"I'm gonna need to talk to her. Louise Montrose was having an affair with Patrick Pierce."

"Okay... Be right back..." Angela headed off, stunned.

An hour later he was sitting with Meg still. He'd told Brennan what Meg had told him. Angela had brought him a laptop, headphones, and the original recording on a disc. Now he was combing through it little by little.

The length of the tape had been filmed over a few days judging from the progression and the changes of clothes. He'd seen twenty minutes at this point. A lot of it was Ellie and Meg being who they'd always been together. Seeing them happy and together again made the truth of what was to come after those filmed days that much more troubling.

There was a small gasp, movement on the edge of his sight span. He looked over to find Meg was awake, looking around like she didn't remember where she was. He stood and approached her. "Meg?" She looked at him and her face crumpled - she was remembering now. He sat by her and a moment later she was trying to calm back, resting in his arms. "You'll be okay. I know it doesn't seem like it now but you will."

"How long's it been?" she asked after a minute.

"You slept for an hour or so. You want to try again?" She looked up and saw the laptop, the frozen image of a blurred Ellie catching her eye.

"I don't know what I want anymore..."

xx

When Booth had called Brennan to tell her he was on his way back, she'd relayed the information given to her by Hodgins. He told her to meet him at his office. When she arrived, he was on the phone, his chair facing the window so he didn't see her.

"I just want to spend some time with him, Rebecca. I'll pick him up from the school, take him to dinner and bring him home." Brennan waited by the door, not wanting to disrupt. "Thanks." After he hung up, he sat there quietly... thinking. Hesitation putting her in a tug war as to whether or not to announce herself and pull him out of it ended as he turned and saw her.

"Hi," she blurted out. "I just got here..." she tried, but he shook his head.

"It's fine." She entered the office and went to sit across from him.

"Are you okay?"

"Should have seen it coming..."

"How could you have known she'd do that?"

"I don't know... I could have saved her."

"She didn't want to be saved... too far gone. You did what you could. Who knows what might have happened if we hadn't been there." He sat there quietly pondering what she'd said. After a while he sat up, his work resolve returning.

"I think whatever went down with Ellie, it had something to do with her mother. Louise Montrose had secrets. Let's find them."

xx

Twenty minutes later they were walking up to the offices of Montrose & Pierce inc. As was to be expected, reporters hovered around the area, Booth and Brennan walked past them and through the door. Up to the eleventh floor they remained silent.

"We're here to see Patrick Pierce," Booth flashed his ID at the secretary. She picked up the phone and dialed his extension.

"Mr. Pierce, sir, there are some people here from the FBI?" she listened, looked up at them. "Yes that's right." She listened once more. "Okay." She hung up and stood. "Please follow me." She led them to Pierce's office, knocking on the door before opening it and stepping aside.

"Agent Booth, Dr Brennan," Pierce greeted them. "I figured I'd be hearing from you."

"Yeah, I doubt it's for what you think. What can you tell me about Louise Montrose? I'm particularly interested in the affair you two were having," Booth leaned in. Pierce looked past him to his baffled secretary by the door, waving for her to close the door and leave.

"Louise and I may have had a few indiscretions, but that was two years ago."

"I'm going to need more than that. Right now there's a young girl out there who's just lost her parents, just days after her sister's bones showed up in their home. And right now all I care about is giving her some peace. So let's start again. You two were having an affair," he finished with an 'and then' gesture. Pierce sighed.

"It started two summers ago, a few months before Ellie disappeared. Stanley had gone to a conference overseas. Louise looked... distressed. So I sat with her. One thing led to another... We tried to leave it at that, but it happened again, and again... By October, she started to pull away, said Stanley was getting suspicious. The whole thing ended when Ellie was gone. She was too torn by it and stuck with Stanley after that. I never held it against her."

Booth looked to Brennan. "Mr. Pierce, is there anyone we can talk to, friends of Louise..."

"Her circle mostly consisted of wives, mine included."

After leaving Pierce's office, Booth and Brennan sat in the car. "What are you thinking?" she asked.

"Maybe Mrs. Pierce found out about her husband's 'indiscretions', decided to do something about them..." he speculated.

"Maybe..." she nodded in agreement. He started the car and they were off to see Mrs. Pierce.

When they arrived at the house though, they were directed instead to the Three Pines Spa. Off they were again.

"Rebecca thought I should come to one of these places during my time away," Booth commented as they made their way into the spa.

"Not a bad idea," Brennan replied.

"Not the pampering type, Bones," he pointed out.

"If you don't like massages and all, you can still do other things. You can work out, go in the sauna..."

"Hey look, here we are," he cut in as they reached the counter and its smiling receptionist.

"Hi there, welcome to the Three Pines Spa," she spoke cheerfully. "Are you here for our new and improved couples' package?" she asked, checking her computer. When she looked up, she came up to face with Booth's badge. "Oh..." her voice squeaked. There was a collective awkward silence for a minute. "What can I do for you?"

"Looking for Lillian Pierce," Booth explained.

"Right through there, past the changing rooms," the girl indicated.

"Thanks," Booth nodded as he and Brennan left the counter. "Okay, you go."

"What?" she laughed in confusion. "Are you that turned off by these places? Why..." He cut her off as he pointed to a sign above the door the girl had pointed to - 'WOMEN ONLY'. "Oh..."

"Have fun," he smirked.

Brennan went through the door, finding herself in a very quiet area. Several women lounged around, eyes closed. After sighing to herself, she approached the first.

"Excuse me," she whispered, putting her hand on the woman's shoulder. "Are you Lillian Pierce?" The woman simply shook her head, looking desperate to hold on to her peaceful state. Brennan stood straight, walking silently to the next. "Lillian Pierce?"

"That's Mrs. Talbot," came a whisper from behind her. "I'd leave her alone if I were you," the woman explained, eyes still closed.

"Are you..." Brennan started.

"I'm Lillian Pierce," she whispered. "What is this about?"

"Louise Montrose."

"What'd she do now?" Brennan blinked.

"She's dead." Lillian Pierce opened her eyes, as did several of the other women.

"What? What happened?" she asked, her voice between normal and whisper.

"I think it'd be best to talk about this outside. Could you follow me please?" The stunned woman nodded and started to gather her things. Brennan thought for a moment, then turned to address the others. "Any of you know Louise Montrose as well?" she asked at normal voice.

"We all did," said the first woman Brennan had approached.

"Would it be alright if I allowed Agent Booth of the FBI in here? He's waiting out there." The women nodded. Brennan went to open the door, poking her head out. "Booth!" she tried to call him without disturbing everyone. "Booth!" she added a few arm waves. Finally he turned. "Come on!" she waved him over. He tried to refuse, pointing to the sign. "No, come on!" she insisted. After a few more seconds he relented. "Seriously..." she shook her head as he came up to her.

"Not a word," he pointed a finger at her. She scoffed. "Morning ladies, I'm Agent Seeley Booth with the FBI. This is Dr. Temperance Brennan with the Jeffersonian Institute."

"What happened to Louise?" asked Lillian.

"As you'll find out if you tune to most stations right about now, shortly after ten this morning, Louise Montrose shot and killed her husband before turning the gun on herself." There was a collective gasp. "I realize this is traumatic news, but we would like to ask you a few questions. Mrs. Pierce, if you could follow me..." he turned to her.

"Wait... what do you need us for if you know all that," asked the first woman, Cassandra Stanley.

"Dr. Brennan will explain all that," he assured her as he ushered Lillian out of the room. Once the door had closed, Brennan turned to the women.

"We're actually investigating the murder of Ellie Montrose," she revealed. "Were you aware of any illicit activities Louise Montrose may have been involved in?" There was a wave of hushed laughter. "I assume that's a yes?"

"Louise always fancied herself as being discreet but well she was about as obvious as they came," said Cassandra.

"So you knew about the affair?" Brennan asked.

"You mean affairs, plural," Mrs. Talbot spoke up.

"Well you couldn't really blame her. Stanley was a tough businessman and he was a tough husband," Cassandra nodded.

"He abused her," Brennan guessed.

"More like he made her toe the line, his way and his way only," said Mrs. Talbot.

"I remember one time," Cassandra started. "It was their annual Christmas party. He wanted the girls to perform a piece for their guests. Well the night of the party, Meg had come down with a nasty cold. Stanley was never one to allow weakness to show. Louise didn't think it was right for them to go through with it. She knew he'd argue, so she sent the two of them to his sister's. When Stanley found out he made Louise stand before all the guests and apologize, that because of her the girls wouldn't be performing for us."

"And after that we didn't see her for three weeks," Mrs. Talbot added. "Should've seen her when she reappeared."

"When Ellie disappeared, we waited for something similar. But she never did come back..." Cassandra finished. Brennan sat back, short of breath after this.

"These affairs..." she had to think a moment to get back on track. "What can you tell me about them?" Cassandra eyed the door.

"Is that why you took her out of here? Patrick and Louise, we always knew it'd happen at one time or another. Who better than her husband's own partner?"

"Generally she stuck to who was within her regular places - the spa, country club..."

"Ellie's English teacher..."

"Right, almost forgot him," Mrs. Talbot nodded.

"Will Tennant," Brennan recalled. They had been meaning to go talk with him after they'd first met Patrick Pierce.

Out in the hall, Booth had to take a different approach to his questions. Looking at Lillian Pierce he tried to imagine her as suspect although she looked quite the opposite... then again they didn't always have it right there on their faces. You had to dig deeper.

"I can't believe she'd do that..." Lillian shook her head, still dealing with the news.

"You never saw anything that would indicate..." he let her get through her moment.

"Louise wasn't born into this world. Grew up in Phoenix with her mother working two jobs to support her brothers and her. She always worried about fitting in, getting it right..."

"Mrs. Pierce, we're investigating Ellie Montrose's murder," he veered back on topic.

"I hadn't even spoken to her about that yet."

"You two spent a lot of time together?"

"Well, with our husbands running the company, it was only natural."

"So you weren't really friends?"

"I tried to be, I tried to be there for her. I knew how Stanley would get, we all did. She'd never confide."

"Do you know if either of them were ever unfaithful?"

"Stanley I wouldn't be surprised. Louise... I've heard here and there... Gossip comes with everything around here." She saw something in Booth's eyes and nodded. "I know about her and Patrick."

"And you don't have a problem with that?"

"I made my peace with it a long time ago. Besides I have my own weaknesses..." she gave Booth a grin. He looked down, laughing nervously.

"Okay... Have a good day. Thank you for your time."

"Mm mm," Lillian looked him up and down before continuing down the hall.

A few minutes later, Brennan came out to join him. "So what'd you get?"

"Inappropriate feelings over Stanley Montrose's being dead," she sighed.

"Ah," he winced.

"Also got a few of Louise's extramarital friends' names."

"Nice work Bones," Booth nodded.

"Yeah," she humphed.

"Hey..." Booth put his arm around her shoulders. "Cheer up," he tapped her arm. "At least you didn't get hit on." She chuckled. "There you go. So where do you want to go first?" She sighed, thinking.

"Will Tennant?"

"Will Tennant," he nodded and they headed off.

xx

"She's sleeping again?" Angela asked Hodgins back at the lab.

"Yeah," he looked at Meg on the couch.

"I got you that number for Michael Fisher," she handed him a sheet.

"Uncle Mike," he nodded. "Thank you."

"Sure," she nodded and left. He watched her go before turning back to the computer. He noticed a new e-mail and opened it. He froze.

_"I know where she is. Don't think I can't get to her."_

**TBC**


	8. Chapter 7: The Investigation Shifts

**THE PRINCESS IN THE TOWER**

_A/N: Sorry this is a day late, but well it was christmas, so you guys understand :) Hope you all had a great day, got all the things you wanted ;) Anyhoo, here's the chapter :)_

**CHAPTER 7 - The Investigation Shifts**

"Okay, stop, hold on..." Angela tried to keep up with Hodgins as he ran/walked along with the sleeping Meg in one arm and the laptop under the other. "You can't just..."

"Oh I can just..." he continued.

"Jack, you're not an investigator, you're... bugs and slime, remember?"

"Well... he's slime, I'll manage."

"You should talk to Booth, or Brennan at least." He stopped and turned to her.

"Angela, I can't sit and do nothing anymore, not now. I want this guy to answer for what he did, and for her to be able to go with her Uncle Mike and start rebuilding her life." He started to turn back.

"Then let me help you..." He stopped and turned to her again. "Please?"

"Okay..." he finally agreed. "I don't really know what I'm doing," he admitted after a moment.

"I know," she nodded. "We'll figure something out."

"Thanks," he smiled shyly. She nodded and smiled back.

xx

"Starting to feel like we're running in circles," Brennan sighed as they drove toward Ellie's old school.

"That happens. But look, we can't give up."

"No, I know that..." she shook her head. "I know it's probably right in front of us and we're not seeing it."

"Well then it'll come eventually," he nodded.

"What do we know about Will Tennant?"

"Been teaching at Brady Walker for going on eight years. Model citizen, except for the secret affair with one of his students' mother. Who knows what else he's hiding?"

They arrived at the Brady Walker School and were directed to Mr. Tennant's class. "They're doing a test," Brennan whispered to Booth as they looked through the window in the door.

"Perfect," he knocked lightly on the glass, drawing most of the people's attention, including Mr. Tennant. Booth motioned to Tennant to come out in the hall. He indicated his class in session. Booth showed him his ID. Tennant turned to his class to tell them to keep going before getting up and heading to the door.

"What's this about?" he whispered.

"You were sleeping with Louise Montrose?" Booth whispered back. Tennant walked out into the hall and closed the door. "Don't you just love how compelled they get when we mention that?" he turned to Brennan.

"Look, it didn't even start until after Ellie left this school, so I don't see..."

"Meg goes here now, doesn't she?" Brennan asked.

"Yes she does," Booth smirked.

"I swear it was just her."

"So... her daughter disappears and you offer yourself as the sympathetic ear?" Booth tried.

"Something like that."

"Now see, something like that, if you ask me... doesn't happen unless there's some kind of feelings already existing. You liked her before." He didn't say anything. "Maybe she wouldn't give you the time of day, and you couldn't take it."

"Wait, what are you saying?"

"Try and try and it never works. Has to be frustrating."

"I don't like where this is going," Tennant shook his head.

"Not a big fan of it myself. So what, you figured you could create some trauma for her, to soften her up to you... except something went wrong."

"That's crazy," Tennant shook his head. "Besides, the day Ellie went missing I was in New York visiting my parents. You can check. Now can I go?"

Five minutes later, they were walking out of the school. "There goes another one," Brennan pointed out.

"I have to go pick up Parker soon. Are you going to be okay?" he stopped her, made her turn so she'd look at him.

"Yeah," she nodded, looking up.

xx

"So what do we do first?" Angela asked Hodgins as they'd settled in.

"We track that e-mail," he nodded to himself. "That much I know how to do."

"You do?" she asked.

"Yes, and that stays between us," he looked to her.

"Got it," she promised.

Hodgins got to work as Angela checked on Meg. They'd set her up on Angela's chair, which Meg didn't seem to mind. She just slept on, perhaps finding in her dreams the things her waking life lacked.

"Damn it..." she heard Hodgins mutter ten minutes later. She looked up.

"What's wrong?"

"The e-mail was sent from an internet cafe."

"Where?" she approached the computer, standing right behind Hodgins, leaning in to look. "That's not too far. We could go, see if anyone remembers who it was that sent the e-mail."

"Yeah..." Hodgins nodded approvingly. Then he remembered. "Meg... I can't leave her, I promised."

"I can go. Be your eyes and ears..." He gave her a smile, and she smiled back.

"We can do that."

"We can use earpieces," she suggested with a light laugh. He gave her a look and she paused in a grin. "You have some, don't you?"

"Yeah..." he admitted.

"Alright. My codename will be Miss M," she whispered.

"Miss M," he repeated.

"You can be Mr. H." He smiled.

"Okay."

Once they'd retrieved the earpieces, tested them, Angela started to leave.

"Hey..." he called her back for a moment.

"Yeah?"

"Be careful, alright?" She nodded.

Ten minutes later, as he sat with Meg still, Angela spoke and he heard her through the earpiece. "Okay, I'm here." He nodded to himself, looking back at his laptop, at the info he had.

"You're looking for whoever was on the computer at 1:06pm. You have the paper I gave you?"

"I do," she told him. "Going to the guy, don't distract me."

"Right," he assured her.

"Excuse me..." he could hear her start to explain things to someone. He saw Zach coming and sighed to himself. So much for no distractions.

"I think I might have figured out the... weapon," he halted when he noticed Meg in the background. Hodgins followed his gaze.

"It's alright, she's sleeping," he told Zach. "The weapon?" he asked.

"Got it narrowed down to a shovel and a pipe, but I'm leaning toward the shovel."

"Did you tell Dr. Brennan?"

"She's on her way back so I will then," Zach explained. "Where's Angela?" he looked around.

"Uh, she had to run out to get something girl related."

"Hey!" came a non-pleased voice in his ear. He had to turn not to let the chuckle carry to his face and have Zach see it. "This is the thanks I get, Mr. H?"

"Alright, is there anything else?" Hodgins asked Zach, trying to keep it together.

"I think so. Are you okay?"

"I am," Hodgins insisted.

"Okay," Zach turned and left though he didn't look too convinced that Hodgins hadn't just lost it.

"Sorry about that," he turned his attention back to Angela. "So what'd you find out?"

"Not so much. The guy had never seen him before. He said it was a guy, late teens or early twenties. Blond hair, fake tough looking."

"Great," Hodgins groaned.

"Hold on..." she told him. "I have more."

"Okay?"

"Got some fingerprints." Hodgins grinned.

"Score one for the magnificent Miss M." He heard her laugh, a sound that had truly become like a shot of hope in times he needed it.

"What do you want me to do, bring them over, or..."

"Yeah. Can't really do anything else until we know."

"Got it. I'm on my way."

xx

"Hey buddy," Booth greeted Parker as he steadied himself. When Parker had seen him he'd come up running, leaping into his arms. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," Parker nodded. "Where are we going?"

"Well it's up to you," Booth told him as he put him down and took his hand. "What do you feel like eating?"

"Burgers!" he exclaimed.

"Burgers?" he replied with the same glee. "That sounds perfect."

Off they went toward the restaurant. Parker wanted to go in the game area for a while, so Booth sat and watched him, thinking.

So much had come to pass over the last couple of days. With the case, there was so much that just made his skin crawl, how these people had lived and how those girls had lived with them.

Louise Montrose's actions that morning had done nothing to get him back on solid ground. Maybe that was why he'd needed so much to see his son that day. He always worried about how much their whole situation was affecting him. He was innocent in this, yet he constantly lived with the consequences of their actions.

So much... with the case, and with Brennan. Things weren't the same between them since the case three months before. What this meant for them, whether it was good different or bad, remained to be seen.

Parker tired of the games, feeling his stomach beckon for food, so they got to a table and ordered. There Parker told him of his day at school, the things he'd done and learned - they'd seen a movie about the farm and the animals there. Booth listened with great intent. This little guy meant more to him now than he could have ever imagined.

xx

"Miss M the magnificent has returned," Angela arrived, an envelope in hand.

"And she returns victorious," he nodded. Angela handed him the envelope.

"You owe me fifty." He looked confused, but then he opened the envelope and found a fifty dollar bill. "Our guy paid with it, kind of stood out. I had to give him fifty of mine to get that one."

"Right," he took out his wallet, handing her a fifty back.

"Mm... Miss M wants a pony," she grinned. He laughed. "The cafe guy said our guy slid the bill over with his index over Grant's head."

"Excellent," he got to work. In the meantime, Angela checked on Meg. She now stood walking around the base of the 3D imager, observing it. "Wanna see what it can do?" Angela asked her. Meg nodded. Before long, there was a field of flowers glowing in front of them. Meg looked fascinated. "It doesn't usually get to serve this purpose, so it's nice to have a change of scenery. I've been working at this now and then."

"What does it usually do?" Meg asked.

"Well... I can recreate certain events, recreate a face..." She saw the thought that flashed over Meg's eyes at that moment. "Meg, I don't..."

"Please?" she asked. Angela looked up across the room at Hodgins, their eyes meeting for a moment.

"Okay," she nodded. The flowers went away and seconds later Ellie Montrose's face appeared. Meg looked up at it, looking both distressed and peaceful. Angela walked around to stand next to her.

"I miss her every day that I wake up and she's not there I can't stand it."

"She'd be so proud of you though," Angela looked down at her. "You've been very brave these last few days." Meg nodded, eyes still locked with 3D-Ellie's.

xx

Brennan lay on the floor of her office, looking up at the ceiling, watching the bright and lively Montrose sisters alternately filming each other during what looked to be like a summer office party.

After returning to the lab, she'd been informed by Zach that Ellie had most likely been struck by a shovel. What this meant for the case in general was hard to tell.

She tried to imagine what the killer's intent had become after holding Ellie captive for four months. How long was he looking to keep her? If it hadn't been for her attempt to call her sister, he might not have killed her that night.

She'd found herself in a constant loop of trying to find the missing piece, the one thing that would get things moving.

It was around seven that she set up her private projection. She was going to find something if it took her all night and day.

"Popcorn anyone?" Startled, she pulled herself up a bit to look over and find Booth at the door.

"What... what are you doing here?" He walked over and sat down next to her.

"I called your house, but you weren't there. Something told me I might find you here."

"What time is it?" she looked to her watch.

"It's after eight. We have the whole place to ourselves," he looked out at the darkened lab, then up at the ceiling. "The mysterious recording," he lay back on the ground much as she'd been doing before. After a moment she returned to her old position as well.

"I keep thinking the answer's right there and I can't find it."

"Shouldn't think too hard, then it'll never come. Open your mind. It'll come if it's there." She hummed a moment, doing as he'd said.

"How was your dinner with Parker?" she asked.

"Really good. We had burgers, fries... He played in the ball pit..."

"Aren't those places full of germs? I mean..." she looked over.

"Bones, sometimes you have to let kids be kids," he did the same. She looked back at the ceiling.

"So did it help? Seeing him?"

"Yeah, yeah," he nodded. "Parker, he's... he's a great kid. Sometimes I don't know what I'd do if I didn't get to see him the few times I do get to see him." She was going to say something as she usually did, but something else grasped her before she could voice the words.

"Booth..." her voice returned after a moment.

"Yeah?"

"Stop the tape."

"What?"

"Stop the tape! That's it!"

"What's it?"

"Booth!"

"Okay, okay," he scurried to hit pause and freeze the image.

"Back it up, just a few seconds." He did, paused again before returning by her.

"Bones, what do you see?" She kept looking up.

"Oh my god..." was all she could say.

**TBC**


	9. Chapter 8: Revelations

**THE PRINCESS IN THE TOWER**

_A/N: One day early instead of one day late this time ;) I know I won't have time to come put this up tomorrow, so... Happy New Year! ;)_

**CHAPTER 8 - Revelations**

_THREE MONTHS AGO_

Driving to the hospital, she wasn't sure what to expect. Morgan had said he was in bad shape, but how so? He'd been trapped there for a day… She blinked, trying to hold so she could see herself.

Halfway through the ride, Angela had called to know where she was and why she wasn't home. When she told her about Morgan's call, Brennan asked her to contact Rebecca, so she could tell Parker his father was alive. Angela promised to do so, and to join her at the hospital as soon as possible.

When she got there, she was told it would be a few hours before she could see him. So she sat and waited. Little by little, she was joined by others - Angela, then Hodgins, Zack… The unexpected surprise of this development kept them all relatively quiet. The guys were off to track down something food-like when a doctor came to them.

"How is he?" Brennan asked as she stood.

"Pretty well considering… He'll need heavy rest for some time, but I think it's safe to say he's out of trouble and he should be fine." He allowed them a moment to get comfort in this. "Like I said, he needs to rest, but you can go see him now, he'll be awake soon."

"Thank you," Brennan nodded before he left.

"You go ahead," Angela told her with a smile.

"Okay…" she breathed out. She was still so nervous even though he'd be alright.

Seeing him in the bed, breathing and alive… She felt both relieved and heartbroken. She wasn't sure what to do. Her feet hovered about in an attempt to make up their mind. Eventually she came to sit on a chair she pulled up to the bed. His face was bruised up as to be expected, and his arms appeared to have taken some hurt as well.

She felt the need to touch him, perhaps testing to see if he was really there. She started to reach for his hand, paused. She looked to his face again. Was he in pain? In the end, she had to hope it would help them both. Tentatively, she reached her fingers to the top of his hand… contact. Banking on the reassurance she had gotten there, she followed through and extended her fingers to slide into a hold, giving his hand a light squeeze. She shuddered, trying to keep her emotions in check, putting her other hand to her mouth.

It was almost an hour and a half after she'd gotten to the room, her hold still on his hand, when she felt what was definitely a squeeze back. Her head snapped up to look to his face. He was awake, looking right back at her.

"Hey…" she cried with a smile.

"We gotta stop… meeting like this…" he spoke weakly. The laugh felt so foreign but also better than anything else lately.

"I'll do what I can."

xxx

_TODAY_

"Okay, are you going to tell me what you saw?" Booth asked when he walked into her office the next morning.

The previous night, he'd watched her stare at that image projected on her ceiling so hard he swore it'd peel right off and fall on them. Finally as she'd stood to her feet, she'd said that she'd explain everything in the morning, turned off the projector and then left. The way he saw it, she had her key, so now she could sleep.

"It's still mostly speculative," she warned him.

"I can deal with that," he insisted. "So what's up?"

"Stanley Montrose? I don't think he was Ellie's father." That made Booth step up.

"Woah, woah. Where'd you get that from?"

"The video."

"Gonna have to keep going there Bones."

"I'll do you one better. I think I know who her real father is too."

"You got all that from a video?" He was awed.

"If you look at all of them together, it's clear as day. It was right there the whole time."

"Well good."

"Couldn't have done it without you," she nodded. He nodded back. "Need to talk to Dylan McNeal."

"Why?"

"I want to know if Ellie knew. She wouldn't have told her little sister, so..."

"The boyfriend," he concluded. "Let's go."

xx

"Geez, you weren't kidding..." was Angela's greeting to Hodgins as he let her into his house.

"Yeah..." he replied shyly.

"Where's Meg?"

"Sleeping upstairs," he told her as they went for the stairs. "I got a hit on those prints."

"Great, who is he?"

"His name's Travis Gilbert. Did some years for armed robbery - and kidnapping."

"Nice guy," she shook her head. "So how does he fit into all this?"

"He's a trainer now, Three Pines Spa. From what I got though, he's more the hired hand type, the muscle, not the brains of the operation."

"Okay, so what do we do now?"

"I don't know," he stopped and so did she. "Angela... I can't let you go alone, it wouldn't be right. If you got hurt..." She smiled, touched by his concern.

"Jack... I know you're determined about doing all this, but maybe it's time we talked to Brennan, and Booth..."

"I guess you're right," he admitted.

"It'll be fine," she promised.

"I don't want to let her down..."

"You won't. You're Mr. H."

xxx

_THREE MONTHS AGO_

She'd stayed with him until he ended up going to sleep. In that time, they didn't talk much. Booth was still out of it, and Brennan wasn't too sure what to say. So they sat there, taking relief where they could get it for the moment. Angela took her home afterward, staying overnight just as promised.

The next day she went to work. She'd heard from Rebecca, who'd said she'd take Parker to see him. She wanted to give them space. Knowing he was alive was good enough. Then came a new case, very high profile and time consuming. So for two days straight they had no time for something else than the work that could lead to an answer and stop people from breathing down their necks.

Finally, three days removed, she found herself back to Booth's hospital room. This time around he was propped up into a semi-sitting position, watching television. When he spotted her, he smirked.

"Well… here you are. Where'd you disappear off to?"

"There was a case…" she explained, feeling sorry.

"I know, heard about it. I was just yanking your chain…" Seeing the confused look on her face, he gave a 'nevermind' shrug. "It's good to see you," he nodded more seriously.

"You look better," he nodded back, walking over to sit down.

"I believe all the thanks there are to be given to these painkillers they have me on."

"That's good…" she kept nodding.

"It's excellent," he formed a mock thumbs up. "I heard you went to Parker… that night." She looked up.

"I did…" He nodded, then smiled.

"Thank you." She smiled back.

"You're welcome."

They were silent a while after that. It was separately clear evidently that they knew there were some things they weren't set to discuss, things they didn't particularly understand. That this could be a common point remained to be realized.

"Do you know yet what you're going to do?" Brennan finally asked. "The next few weeks…"

"I think I'm going to take my time off seriously, I need to…" She wasn't sure what that would mean, but she didn't let it show.

"You should," she nodded.

"Don't get too comfy though," he pointed to her. "I'll be back." She laughed lightly and nodded her 'understanding'.

xxx

_TODAY_

"Hey Dylan, remember me?" Booth sat across from him. He looked about as happy to see him as the last time. "I'll take that as a yes. This is Dr. Brennan," he introduced her as she also sat.

"What do you guys want this time?" Dylan asked.

"Did Ellie ever say anything about her father not being her biological father?" she asked. That got him to attention.

"How do you know about that?"

"So it's true then?" Brennan asked.

"Uh, y-yeah. It was a couple of weeks before she disappeared, after the time they made her..." he trailed off. "She came over one night, said her mother told her about it. She wouldn't tell Ellie who he was though. I'd never seen her so happy. Knowing she wasn't related to him, it was like it gave her power or something. She called it her shiny surprise. She just waited on that day where she could throw it in his face..." he laughed as he recalled.

"So she didn't know who he was," Booth repeated.

"She had her suspicions..."

"Like who?" Brennan asked.

x

"So she knew," Booth shook his head as they left the prison.

"Looks like it," Brennan nodded.

"Maybe he knew too, and Daddy wanted some face time..."

"Let's go then..."

"Well we don't want him to see us coming for him that way. I have an idea though. We're going to the lab."

"Alright," Brennan nodded as they both got in the car.

xx

Hodgins and Angela had waited for Meg to wake up. Once she had, they let her get ready and then left for the lab. On the way though, Hodgins remembered how he had promised Meg breakfast the previous night. Never one to break his promises, they'd stopped on the way.

Meg was still very much in a place of devastation, but having Hodgins there for her did help some. She'd had some nightmares wake her a couple of times the previous night.

"That was a good breakfast, wasn't it?" Angela commented as they left the restaurant.

"Yeah," Meg agreed.

"You should check out their dinners," Hodgins told Angela.

"Is that an invitation?" she asked smilingly.

"Maybe? Depends on what you say..."

"What if I say yes?"

"Then it's an invitation," he nodded.

They turned to ask Meg if she was ready to go, but found she was no longer by their side. Rather, she was observing a display of carnival rides made of building blocks in a window across the street.

"They loved the ferris wheel," Jack explained.

They started to cross the street to lead her back to the car when she was ready. But as they were doing so, a car pulled up and blocked them, just as another came along the curb on Meg's side, a hooded man taking hold of her and pulling her into the backseat.

"Meg!" Hodgins yelled. "Stop them!" he called out, but they were already driving away. "No!" He took off running after the car.

"Jack!" Angela called before taking off after him.

They both ran for about a minute before the car managed to shake them, hitting the brakes and allowing for Hodgins to smack the back of the car and hit the ground before they took off again.

"Jack!" Angela caught up a moment later, kneeling at his side. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"He got her..." he spoke, out of breath. "The bastard's got her."

xxx

_A FEW DAYS AGO_

A week passed, a month and then another. And in that time there was very little contact between Booth and the team at the Jeffersonian, if any contact at all. Mostly it was restricted to a brief check… She'd ask how he was, he'd ask what they were working on. It would never exceed five minutes.

Brennan never questioned it. She reasoned that it was the proper course, factoring in what he'd been through. She didn't want to overstep her bounds, bother him…

Whether she'd ever admit it was doubtful, but she missed him greatly, and she needed cause not to settle on the fact that their lack of conversation bothered her.

Another month passed, three in total, and this went on. The continuation of that same pattern of contact only brought on more things she wouldn't face.

But then there was that last call - he was coming back, 'in a few days'. When she hung up, she sat there sort of puzzled, unable to move. Finally it was Angela who came to knock her back on track, in more ways than one.

"Was that Booth?" she asked, indicating the phone.

"Yeah… he's coming back in a couple of days."

"That's great," Angela approached Brennan's desk.

"Yeah, it is," Brennan agreed, pulling on her focus to hold.

"Then you can figure things out, the two of you." Brennan looked up, partially confused.

"Figure out what?"

"Have you seen yourself when you talk to him, or even about him? I wish I had that and you guys aren't even addressing it. Stop letting time get away and do something."

"Ang…" she started, her head dipping down a moment.

"I know what you're going to say. You'll say I've got it all wrong, that it's not like that, and about a million other excuses, and you know what? I'm fishing you out of that, 'cause it's been long enough. The only one you're trying to convince here is yourself. It's denial, fear, and so much more. Stop being so afraid. Take a leap. I'm saying this as a friend, and I hope you'll catch my drift: Wake up and smell the second chance." And with that she turned on her heel to leave.

"Angela…" Brennan tried to call her back.

"No rebuttals!" she called back without stopping. Brennan sat back with a sigh.

Part of her knew she wasn't completely wrong. The problem was, this part was buried beneath a fair amount of the equally mentioned fear, with doubt and confusion.

xxx

_TODAY_

"Did you call him?" Brennan asked Booth as they waited on the second level of the lab. Both were pacing back and forth, crossing each other on the way.

"He didn't show up for work, no one's heard from him. I call his house, I get told they're on the line and they'll call me back," he replied, baffled.

"Think he's on to us?"

"I... I don't know," he shook his head.

"Well we'll give it a couple minutes and try again."

"I can be patient. Hey, I waited under a blown up building, I can wait..." Brennan's feet slowed to a shudder stop, taken blind sided by memories.

"Don't joke about it..." she told him, voice shaking. He stopped too, turning to face her.

"Why?" he asked, his tone much more indicative of a caring 'what's wrong?'" She looked to the side a moment, arms crossed over herself as she tried to keep it together. Her words couldn't be held, no more.

"Because for one day I thought you were dead, and... I don't want to feel like that again..." Booth felt himself compelled to approach her.

"Like what?" he asked gently, putting a hand to the side of her face, carefully wiping at the tear that had flown free.

"Like the world... my world was gone..." She closed her eyes, not moving otherwise. Booth didn't move either, trapped in the moment without wanting freedom from it. He opened his mouth to speak. And then his phone rang.

Both of them looked to each other in that moment. Duty was calling, but they wouldn't forget that this moment had happened. "I should answer," he told her. She nodded, and he let go, moving to answer.

"Dr. Brennan!" they heard Zach shouting from below. She looked to Booth for a second before moving to go look. There she spotted Angela supporting Hodgins, who looked bruised.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Car pulled up, we couldn't stop it..." Hodgins shook his head in defeat.

"Stop what?" Brennan asked.

"They got Meg," Angela revealed. Brennan moved back to Booth, who was still on the phone.

"They got Meg," she repeated to him. That made him pause a moment before he focused back on the phone.

"We talked to you, you never said anything about this, but you knew, didn't you?" And now he's gone..."

"Like I told you, Agent Booth, I made my peace with it a long time ago."

"He's got Meg Montrose," Booth told her.

"He would, wouldn't he?" Booth hung up, frustrated.

"What do we do now?" Brennan asked him. He wasn't completely sure whether she was talking about the case now.

**TBC**


	10. Chapter 9: We all have our reasons

**THE PRINCESS IN THE TOWER**

_CHAPTER 9 - We all have our reasons_

"Easy, easy," Angela told Hodgins as she helped him sit on the couch. Brennan sat across from them while Booth paced behind them.

"Tell us what happened," Brennan spoke first.

"I told Meg we'd have breakfast this morning, so we stopped at a restaurant and we ate. When we got out," he sighed. "We lost track of her for a second but she only got across the street."

"We were heading there to get her back, but then a couple of cars pulled up in the way. This guy came out of the one on Meg's side, and he took her. Then they drove off."

"In broad daylight," Booth commented. "He's getting careless. What kind of cars?"

"Black?" Angela shrugged. "The windows were tinted. I'm sorry, I didn't..."

"What about the guy who grabbed Meg, did you see his face?" Booth asked. Angela shook her head. Hodgins hesitated before speaking.

"I might know who he is..."

"How?" Booth asked.

"I got an e-mail yesterday in early afternoon. It said... 'I know where she is. Don't think I can't get to her.'" Booth stopped pacing.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Brennan asked.

"We could have traced it and..." Booth started.

"I did that," he told him. "I traced the e-mail, I looked into it."

"We looked into it," Angela corrected. Hodgins looked at her and she looked at him. He gave her a little nod.

"I don't believe this..." Booth was sounding more and more unnerved. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking I needed to step up and help."

"They got Meg, how is that helping? If they hurt her..."

"I know that, it's on me. I get it. No one feels as bad as I do about it, so please just drop it."

"What'd you find out?" Brennan asked them.

"Guy who sent the e-mail, his name is Travis Gilbert, he's..." Hodgins explained.

"Travis Gilbert?" Booth repeated. The other three looked up at him.

"Booth?" Brennan asked.

"Tell them what you found first?" he suggested. She nodded to him and turned back.

"Stanley Montrose wasn't Ellie's father. It's Patrick Pierce." Angela and Hodgins reacted in shock.

"Patrick's wife Lillian was born Lillian Gilbert. Travis Gilbert is her younger brother."

"Guess that settles who's got her," Angela spoke.

"And it gives me reason to bring Lillian Pierce in for questioning," Booth nodded.

"So it wasn't all bad," Brennan looked to Booth with a smile. He looked down, forcing back a smirk.

"Come on," he told her. She stood to follow him.

"What do you want us to do now?" Hodgins asked.

"For now, just do your job," Booth told him and Angela.

xx

As they drove away from the Jeffersonian, Booth and Brennan remained quiet, for lack of knowing exactly what to say or do, where to even start really. Brennan would sneak looks to Booth, and he'd do the same with her. When they caught each other in the act, they looked away. A moment later though, they were trying not to laugh. The former party rule stuck back - for now they'd do the job.

"You can't stay mad at them for what they tried to do." Brennan was the first to speak.

"They could have gotten themselves killed. The part that gets to me is they probably knew it."

"It was a risk they had to take."

"Well I don't know about that."

"It got us to Lillian Pierce..."

"Can we let it go? Look, we're here." They got out of the car and went to the door. They were surprised to have Lillian Pierce herself answer the door.

"I thought I might be seeing you," she let them in.

"Do you know why that is?" Booth asked.

"I'm not telling you where he is," she cut to the chase.

"So you are involved in this," Booth accused.

"Depends on your definition of 'involved.'"

"The kind where you end up in jail."

"I realize Patrick's methods may seem extreme, but he has his rights to her." Booth and Brennan shared a look.

"What do you mean?" Booth asked.

"He's had to watch her all those years, raised by a man he thought to be his friend, a decent man. Only he wasn't."

"Wait, who are we talking about here?"

"Meg..." Lillian replied, sounding obvious. Booth turned to Brennan for confirmation. She shook her head. Mrs. Pierce saw this. "What's going on?"

"Mrs. Pierce, Meg Montrose isn't your husband's daughter. Ellie Montrose was," Brennan explained.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Fairly certain though a paternity test might convince you better I'm guessing." Mrs. Pierce shut her eyes.

"Why don't you tell us what you know?" Booth got to the point.

"I don't know much," she insisted. "He never spoke of it too openly, not until recently. I had my doubts for years, the way he was around Meg. I would never say anything. Our business is our business, it's always been that way with us."

"When did he tell you?" Booth asked.

"A few weeks ago. Stanley yelled at Meg in front of him and the others on his floor of the company for having forgotten some thing or another. Poor girl cried her little heart out in a corner. From what he told me, he's known about two years." She paused. "Patrick always wanted a child. I couldn't have any... So when he found out..."

"So where is he?" Booth asked.

"I don't know, and that's the truth. My brother picked him up, early this morning."

"Does your husband own any property?" Brennan asked her. She nodded. "We'll need a list."

"The office will have that."

"Great. Now in the meantime, do the words "accessory to kidnapping" mean anything to you?"

xx

At the lab, Angela had been busy occupying Hodgins' mind by quizzing him on various insects. He was still riding the worry and guilt over Meg, but this helped.

"Okay, what's the longest species name that you know?" Angela asked him.

"Excuse me?" They looked up to find a man standing a few feet away from them.

"Yes?" Angela replied.

"Are you Angela Montenegro?" he asked her.

"I am," she nodded.

"I'm Michael Fisher," he introduced himself. Hodgins looked up.

He'd had Angela be the one to call him, still determined to hold on to 'his secret'. With what was happening, he'd forgotten Mike was coming.

"Hi," she nodded, and Hodgins could tell she was freaking out a bit as well.

"I was supposed to fly in last night, but there was something I needed to take care of with the store."

"That's fine..." Angela spoke a little faster than she'd meant to.

"Is something wrong?" Mike asked.

"Uh..." Angela started, but Hodgins stood with a wince.

"Something happened that we need to talk to you about."

xx

An hour later, Booth and Brennan were pulling up to a warm-looking little cabin. When they got out, an agent approached them.

"What'd you find?" Booth asked him.

"Not sure, but we believe Ellie Montrose was held here... killed here." Booth looked to Brennan.

"I'll go take a look," she told him.

On the ride over, one by one the other properties had been cleared - nothing to note. "Put out the word. We need to find Pierce and the girl," Booth told the agent.

When he was done with the agent, Booth went inside the cabin, following the action to a cut padlock and a door leading into a basement. He found Brennan crouching by a corner of the dank room. The whole place reeked of that scent he'd had to deal with again and again as he worked with Brennan. The room was equipped with a single bed and a chair that shackles, a table covered in worrisome stains, a small kitchen, and a phone on the wall.

"Probably didn't let her roam free around the room on her own," Booth started. He approached the shackled chair - one side was gone. "But then she managed to free one hand, called her sister... and he killed her for it."

"I did notice some wear on the left wrist," Brennan commented from her spot. After a moment she turned to face him. "This was definitely the place."

"Got people searching through the rest of this place for some clues, but I don't think there'll be any..."

"Any sign of the murder weapon?" she asked. He shook his head. "What do we do now?" He had a thought.

"Stanley Montrose would have property too. Patrick Pierce will know them. He could use one of those, thinking we wouldn't look there."

"Okay," she went to stand, gloved hands still in the air. He moved over and took hold of her arms to help steady her up.

There was a pause as they stood there, looking at each other. Once more they found themselves falling victim to being lost in a moment requiring no freedom. It was becoming impossible to ignore. But like a forgotten partner, the job wedged itself in with the putrid odor.

"Okay... here we go..." Booth nodded, with a discreet smile just for her.

"Yeah, let's go..." she returned it.

xx

"How does one person own so many non-business properties?" Booth shook his head as they drove away from their third dead end check.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Brennan's phone rang. She looked to find it was Angela.

"How's it going?" she asked.

"Nothing since the crime scene. Is everything alright?" Brennan asked, noticing something in her friend's voice.

"Well... so far it's been... calm. How long that'll last..." her voice trailed.

"What's going on?" Booth looked at her.

"Michael Fisher's here. Meg's uncle... Hodgins is explaining the situation to him."

"Is he going to be a problem?"

"I don't know, don't think so... He looks like a really decent guy, I can see why Meg chose him for us to call."

"So what's the issue?"

"Well you know that streak some people - a few of them around us - have of... rushing in for the rescue all white knight-like? He kind of looks to be the type."

"And you're afraid he'll go and get himself killed?"

"Him or Meg..."

"What is it?" Booth asked Brennan.

"Hold on," she told Angela, pulling the phone down to turn to Booth. "Meg's uncle's at the lab. Angela thinks he might want to go out there looking for her." He held out his hand for the phone. Brennan gave it to him.

"Can't you distract him?"

"Yeah, and if he was a thirteen-year-old girl that might work. As it is, he's a guy whose sister just killed herself and whose niece has been kidnapped by some Fortune 500 psycho. What am I supposed to do?"

"You're an artist, you can figure something out..." he shrugged.

"Oh yeah, thanks," Angela replied sarcastically before hanging up.

"Alright, maybe fourth time will be the charm."

'Fourth time' was the Montrose summer home. They were pulling up the road to the house when the call came in to Booth's phone.

"Agent Booth, sir, we had a call come in. A man fitting Patrick Pierce's description was seen in a store..."

"What'd he buy?"

"Shackles."

"Damn... Where's this store?" After he hung up, Booth pulled the car over. "Do you have that list of Montrose's properties?" She pulled it from her bag and gave it to him. He read it over. After a moment, he paused. His finger went to one of the entries. "There, that's the one."

"How do you know?" Brennan asked.

"There's a store just a few minutes away from Stanley's father's old office building. He owned it now. The place was shut down years ago, but I guess some things warmed that ice rock he called a heart. Pierce was seen at that store... buying shackles." They drove off.

"Why would he tie her up like that if he thinks she's his daughter?"

"Maybe she didn't like his pitch. She's being rowdy so he needs to contain her. Girl's got fight in her. That's good..."

"Or it can be bad. Ellie tried to do something and look where it got her," she pointed out.

"Then let's make sure we get there before that happens."

xx

"Are you sure?" Hodgins asked the man on the phone. Angela had followed him as he excused himself when he got the call. "Thanks, I owe you one," he hung up. Angela gave a questioning look. "I think they got it. They got the spot."

"How do you know?"

"What can I say, I've got connections."

"Yeah, so I've heard," she smirked. "This time though... You're calling Booth," she poked at his cell phone. "No more under the wire. You're bruised enough as it is."

His reply was a smile and the dialing on his phone. "Yes, Miss M."

"Thanks, H." He focused on the phone as Booth answered.

"Why was I waiting for you to call? Let me guess, you know what we've got," he spoke.

"I know I messed up a little before, but you've gotta let me help out just this once. Make up for the rest..." There was a pause.

"You will listen to everything I tell you. If I say hang back, you hang back."

"I got it," Hodgins nodded. There was another pause.

"Alright." He hung up.

"And we're off," he nodded to Angela.

**TBC**


	11. Chapter 10: Come Together

A/N: Well it's fastly coming to an end... Next monday will be 'epilogue A', followed on wednesday (which was _supposed_ to coincide with the return of new episodes...) by 'epilogue B', and then the story is over. However, be on the lookout in coming weeks for the sequel to this story, called **DICHOTOMY**.

**CHAPTER 10 - Come Together**

When Hodgins and Angela arrived near the old building there was already a number of vehicles present. Among all of this, they found Booth and Brennan. From what they could tell, Booth had already explained his course of action to the others.

"Are you sure about this?" Booth asked Hodgins when she saw the two of them approaching.

"Definitely," he nodded. "And I'll gladly return to my own field afterward, no worries."

"Good," Booth nodded back.

"So how do we do this?"

"Go in, locate, retrieve, apprehend, get out..."

"Sounds simple."

"Isn't always..." Booth told him. "Alright, let's go." Before he could walk away, Booth felt a hand on his arm. He turned back to find it was Brennan. She looked just a little frightened, and he knew why.

"Be careful," she spoke, looking into his eyes.

"I'm coming out that door walking this time. Take my word for it," he told her with a nod. After a moment, she allowed her hand to let him go. "I'll be back before you know it." He turned and he and Hodgins headed for the office building.

He didn't want to say anything to her about it, attract more concern, but he had some fears of his own going in. The nightmares... of feeling everything fall apart and on to him... All of it had thankfully remained part of the non-waking world. What he worried about now was this new yet all too reminiscent situation, making it through without falling apart.

"You ready?" Booth focused on Hodgins.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Won't make a sound."

Booth and Hodgins entered the lobby. "Let's start at the bottom, work our way up floor by floor," Booth whispered. Hodgins nodded.

Outside the building, everyone remained in a sort of holding pattern. Brennan and Angela sat against one of the many parked cars.

"Hodgins is taking me to dinner," Angela spoke up, looking over to Brennan.

"He is?" she asked, peacefully surprised. Angela nodded. "I didn't even know you two were..."

"It's... complicated," Angela shrugged. "Things just kind of changed on us with all that's happened. There's just something about him that I can't explain. But I want to try..."

"Yeah..." Brennan looked up toward the building.

"What's on your mind?" Angela asked, noticing another occurrence of strange and new behavior. Brennan hesitated to speak.

"This morning, before you and Hodgins showed up... Booth and I were talking."

"About what?"

"I told him about... that day, losing him..."

"Well what'd he say?" she asked, careful not to sound too curious, sensing how the whole subject was still confusing to her.

"Nothing, didn't get to. But... since then, things have been different, good different. Still don't quite know what it all means."

xx

"Second floor is clear," Booth spoke into his radio. He and Hodgins took to the stairs toward the third floor. "This place has twelve floors..." he commented, looking up at the staircase that wouldn't end. He wouldn't blink. He could do this.

"You alright?" Hodgins asked, noticing his pause.

"Yeah," he finally answered, opening the door to the third floor.

They started their round of the floor. The whole thing was about keeping it together, knowing what was on the line, knowing there was the other side waiting...

"Does Pierce own any guns?" Hodgins found himself asking as they made another go up the staircase, taking to the fourth floor.

"None registered, but who knows?"

"Great... Good thing you're there."

"Yeah..." Booth pulled the fourth floor door.

They made the round, climbed to the fifth floor. Around they went, and up to sixth, then seventh.

"Please let this be lucky seven," Hodgins muttered under his breath.

The moment Booth opened the door, they began to hear a continuing resonance, metal clicking at metal. "What's that?" Booth whispered under his breath.

"That's my girl," Hodgins' lips spread into a small smile. Booth looked back at him. "It's a code. Ellie and Meg would knock it against my gate, to draw my attention. There are only two people alive today who know that. And I'm one."

"Confirmed presence of Montrose on the seventh floor. No visual on either the girl or Pierce yet," Booth spoke into his radio. "Stay behind me unless I say otherwise. Got it?"

"Got it," Hodgins nodded.

They made their way down the darkened hall, taking to the wall. Ahead of them was the first closed office, which lead to more offices around the corner. Booth and Hodgins stopped just short of the corner. Booth carefully moved so he could see what was ahead. The sound had grown louder as they moved, and it was loud enough now that they knew they were close.

When Booth pulled back, he guided Hodgins to take a few steps back to talk.

"Two doors down, with the broken glass," Booth whispered. "No rushing," he spoke before signalling they were about to start. "Going in," Booth spoke into the radio.

They turned the corner, approaching the door. As they neared, Booth took hold of his gun, aiming forward. Hodgins did as he'd been told. Just the fact Booth had given him a vote of confidence when he'd given him every reason not to... it meant a lot. And to know that Meg's life was on the line... it was another factor that meant he needed to be extremely careful.

As they got up next to the door, they could hear mumblings, and Booth quickly recognized Pierce's voice. Booth strained to hear.

"... you were just a tiny thing of an infant, I could tell you were special. And your mother, she... she never said anything, not to me, o-or to you. I think she was scared of what Stanley might do. But I knew, deep down, I know I did. And... maybe a part of you did too."

Slowly, Booth pushed the door open, his aim quickly finding Pierce. When the man saw Booth, he went to reach for a hunting rifle sitting nearby. "Don't..." Booth instructed him. Pierce froze. "That's better." He looked to Meg, who'd stopped her tapping the moment she saw Booth. "It's okay, everything's fine," he spoke to her gently. He picked up his radio. "I'm with them now. The girl's alright." At the moment, she was also tied to a chair.

As Booth had gotten to his message, Hodgins remained in the hall though he'd finally made eye contact with Meg. He gave her a smile and a nod, letting her know she'd be alright. She nodded back.

Also at the same time though, while Booth was momentarily busy, Pierce moved to stand behind Meg's chair, pulling a small knife they had not seen, whipping it around to point at Meg's neck. At once, Booth dropped the radio and levelled his gun.

"Get out!" Pierce yelled. "Go or I'll kill her!" Meg kept looking at Hodgins, though her resolve wasn't as strong anymore.

"You won't do that," Booth told Pierce.

"You don't know."

"I do. You believe she's your daughter. You won't hurt her."

"If that's the case, then why are you pointing a gun at me?"

"Well there's the small matter that you have a knife aimed at this girl's neck. You let off with that knife, we'll see about the gun." Pierce didn't budge. "Suit yourself."

"She's my only guarantee," Pierce pointed out.

"If you knew me at all you'd know my word's pretty trustworthy."

"Sorry, no time to chat over coffee."

"Mr. Pierce. We need to tell you something. And we need you to hear us out, alright?"

"Alright?" he replied.

"Meg here, she's not your daughter."

"She is," Pierce shook his head.

"Did Louise Montrose tell you upfront?"

"She did... She told me..." He looked to be replaying the memory.

"She never used Meg's name, did she?" Pierce didn't reply. "Mr. Pierce... Meg isn't your daughter. Ellie was." Pierce shook his head.

"No... she can't... she..." he spoke in a daze, the knife clattering to the ground as he took a few steps back, falling into a sitting position on the ground. Booth holstered his weapon, turning to nod at Hodgins to tend to Meg. He came up to the chair, looking at Meg's restraints. From what he saw, he could lift her from the chair and she'd be free from it though with her hands still behind her. Once he had her in his arms, he went to stand out in the hall.

Booth crouched in front of Pierce. "What happened?" He was still hung up on the revelation.

"Are you sure?" he mumbled. He shut his eyes. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this... none of it, I..."

"What happened two years ago?" Booth asked.

"I thought she... Meg... was my daughter. Stanley was supposed to be someone I trusted with my life, who could do no wrong... But I saw the way he treated Louise, and the girls... I was going to teach him a lesson. I hired my brother-in-law, he'd get Ellie from her room, bring her to my cabin. I'd keep her a few days, let them see what was happening as they missed her. But Stanley, he didn't change. I thought another few days would help. Then another few days turned into weeks, months..."

"Did you kill Ellie Montrose?" Booth asked slowly.

"I started to realize... maybe I could help her. I could give her what Stanley wouldn't. I'd show her what she'd been missing. She kept resisting me. No matter what I tried, it wouldn't do a thing. Then one night, while I'd come to check on her... while she slept so she wouldn't kick o-or bite... I opened the door to the basement, I went downstairs... Except she wasn't asleep. She got free... reached the phone." He paused, a sort of silent rage in his eyes. "It wasn't good enough for her, never was... and I lost it. I was just going to knock her out, to get her tied again, make sure she wouldn't get away again. I grabbed the first thing I found... I'd been digging the day before..."

"And she bled out..." Booth spoke, looking at Pierce.

"He was getting worse with Meg. I needed to do something, give them another scare... And Lillian got the idea." He paused. "My daughter... My daughter..." he spoke to himself in disbelief.

"Get up," Booth instructed him, standing himself. Pierce looked up at him a moment before slowly doing as told. "Turn and face the wall, put your hands behind your back." Pierce did so and Booth cuffed him before guiding him out in the hall, where Hodgins was standing with Meg. From the look on her face, he knew she'd heard everything.

"Media's been alerted..." Hodgins told Booth. "There's some vans outside." Booth understood.

"You sure?"

"I'll get out the back. Do me a favor though? Just let Angela know so she doesn't get the wrong idea?"

"Okay," Booth nodded.

"See you on the outside, Miss Margaret?" he turned to her. She nodded and went with Booth as they headed for the stairs.

Hodgins watched them go, letting out a sigh of some relief at seeing Meg safe again.

He was about to head for the other staircase, which he knew from briefly seeing a floor plan each time they entered a new floor, when something caught his eye. There was a small box on the ground of the room Pierce had been holding Meg in. He walked toward it, stopping and bending over to pick it up. When he opened it, he felt a chill run up his spine.

Ellie's foot bones.

Hodgins closed the box and headed toward the stairs.

xx

As soon as they'd gotten word that it was over, that they were coming out, Brennan and Angela stood together. If Brennan closed her eyes, block out or ignore the rest... she still saw it, heard it, felt it... She felt like if she saw him now, maybe she could make it stop.

A few seconds later, there came a handcuffed Patrick Pierce, led forward by Booth. With his other hand, he guided Meg Montrose with her hands still shackled behind her.

Brennan saw him, saw her terrors fade, felt her heart do leaps and her eyes well up. Angela had a different reaction, seeing that Booth was alone... Hodgins wasn't with him.

Pierce was handed off to other agents as Booth hurried Meg into an ambulance, knowing the cameras would jump at her for the best shot. Once the doors were closed, he turned around and walked to Brennan and Angela.

"Where is he?" Angela asked Booth.

"He said he was coming out the back." Angela looked to Brennan before running out along the side of the building. Booth and Brennan turned back to each other, smiles creeping up over their faces.

"You came out the door..."

"Told you I would."

"Yeah, you did." Before they could go further, they heard the approaching reporters.

"All these disruptions are really starting to piss me off," he told her before they'd reached him.

"Yeah..." she laughed.

xx

Angela walked as fast as she could, jogging near the end. Getting to the door, she stopped short as it opened and she found herself face to face with Hodgins. He stopped as well when he saw her.

"You had me worried for a minute," she tried to scold him but was nowhere near that kind of mind.

"I owe you a dinner, remember? Wasn't going to skip out on that." She smiled and nodded.

"What's that?" she asked, noticing the box in his hands. He tapped the top.

"Ellie's feet... Guess he figured it'd hurt Stanley and Louise even more... Hey, the man's crazy."

"You got Meg back, everyone came out in one piece... I'd say that was a job well done. What do you say we hand that box in and then you can cash in your... debt," she smirked.

"Like that plan," he smiled back.

"Thought you might."

xx

Brennan took the newly returned feet, returned them to where they rightly belonged so Ellie Montrose could finally rest in peace. It was dark now, the lab relatively quiet.

She heard the steps and knew without needing to look up that Booth was just a few feet away. "How is it that we keep meeting in this darkened and quiet lab here? You think someone's trying to tell us something?"

"And who might this someone be?" she asked, still working to place the last of the bones.

"I don't know, but hey... I'm not complaining." Finally finished, she looked up at him.

"Did you apprehend Travis Gilbert?"

"It'll be quite a while before that guy sees the outside of a cell."

"That's good," she spoke, removing her gloves and jacket before turning to Booth.

"Are you hungry?" he asked her slowly.

"Starved," she nodded with a tilt.

"How about we do that thing where you order too much?" She laughed.

**TBC**


	12. Epilogue A: These are the moments

**THE PRINCESS IN THE TOWER**

_A/N: Well it's the beginning of the end here ;) After this, there's only a very short epilogue B. It should be going up wednesday (which WAS supposed to coincide with the return of new eps of Bones glares). Aaanyhoo after that, it comes down to the sequel - DICHOTOMY. At present writing, I am somewhere in chapter 2 with that one, so I might wait 'til I have a bit more before I actually start posting it. Fear not though, it shall come ;) If you would like to be notified somehow, drop me a note :)_

**EPILOGUE A - These are the moments**

When she was taken away from the scene of her holding, Meg had to ride the whole way back to the Jeffersonian with her hands still tied behind her back. The ambulance didn't have the tools to set her free. She was informed that her uncle was waiting for her. When the ambulance pulled to a stop and she was helped down, someone was waiting to release her. Once that was done, the paramedics had examined her wrists, which were slightly bruised and cut. Once they had examined her as a whole, a man came to take her to her uncle.

She knew Hodgins wouldn't be there. As they'd waited in the hall after he'd removed her from the chair, he'd told her it would be best if she was able to have this time with her Uncle Mike on her own, but that they'd see each other later.

They arrived at a room with a desk and chairs - an office. She recognized the man behind the desk, Dr. Goodman, from briefly seeing him the day before. And sitting across from him, there he was... her Uncle Mike. He got up and turned to face her.

"Hey Pinky..." he greeted her with the nickname he had given her as a child, forever in love with the color. She dashed into his arms as he wrapped his around her, kissing the top of her head.

xx

After leaving the lab together that night, Booth and Brennan had gotten into his car and drove to her home. The ride over had been relatively quiet. All they knew to think about was how there was nothing standing in their way now. They would have their often delayed talk at last. It was making the possibility of nerves getting the best of them very probable.

But then they got there and started discussing what to order and it got them to understand something crucial - the transition into... whatever this would start... didn't mean everything had to change. After all, the way they were together, the way they'd always been... it was already very powerful on its own.

As they'd waited for the delivery, they'd taken a seat at the window.

"You know... in a way I should thank you..." he told her.

"For what?" she asked.

"I was conscious... a few times while I was trapped under there..." he didn't have to specify what he was referring to. "I... couldn't move, couldn't see anything, ear anything, couldn't talk... I just lay there, trapped. And..." he looked down with a smile.

"What?" she asked slowly, tilting her head to see him.

"It was you." He looked at her. "You kept me hanging on. Knowing you were out there, that as far as I knew... you were safe. If I could just hold on... one way or another I'd find my way back to you." She looked down a moment, reaching to her eyes instinctively. "Hey..." he touched her arm, concerned.

"It's nothing, I just... I keep thinking about it, and I keep having to remind myself that... you're here, alive." She looked up at him. "Why didn't you call more... If that was how you..."

"Feel," he completed for her. "I don't know if you'll understand it... not sure I do myself." He paused, searching for words. "I had to be sure. I wanted to think it through, see that it might work out. I didn't want to risk losing you when I'd worked my best to find you again. I wasn't trusting myself to act accordingly yet, and if I'd gone and called too much before I knew... It wasn't a risk to take."

"What changed?" she asked.

"Saw you there that day, at the Montrose home... and I knew everything would be alright." She smiled, blushed even.

"Can this really happen?" she asked him.

"We won't know until we try." The bell rang and Booth rose to his feet. "I'll get it," he went.

She watched him go, amused by what could only be described as a sudden burst of energy. She wondered about what he'd said... giving it a try. She did understand the fear of falling short in all this. She didn't want it either...

"So... how are we going to go about this?" she asked as they served themselves at the window.

"First it goes something like this... Would you have dinner with me Friday night?"

"Yes..." she grinned.

xx

Two days later, Brennan, Booth, and the rest of the group arrived at the cemetery for Ellie Montrose's funeral. Stanley and Louise had their funerals the day before, a strict family affair.

With Ellie though, the number of those who attended counted many more. Family, many friends and acquaintances. Booth had worked to make sure Dylan McNeal would be granted the possibility to attend.

Hodgins and Angela came together. They had some figuring of their own to do, but today was dedicated to something else entirely.

Meg sat with her uncle, receiving the sympathies of those who came, taking her mother's would-be position with much importance. They hadn't gotten to speak much about it with her, but generally they knew she didn't resent her mother for what she'd done. As troubling as it might have come to others, she understood where her actions had come from. The only hurdle, the big one, was how she missed her.

She was leaving for Arizona with Mike on Saturday morning, once everything had been put in order. Her tasks revolved around putting together the things she would be bringing with her. She had her belongings, and Ellie's things... she couldn't leave her behind that much.

Booth and Brennan were still highly on board to what was ahead for them. They weren't too vocal about it, not as far as the others went. For now it was theirs and theirs only. It was right. These were times they would want to remember as such. Angela was likely to be 'hurt' by this non-disclosure, but it was a risk they were willing to take.

They had all come for Meg. Over these days, the case... she'd been someone they got to know, found themselves tending to at one time or another... It was only natural.

As the proceedings began, Meg stood to address those gathered.

"Today Ellie can finally rest. It's been a difficult road to travel to get there, but here we are. My sister was sixteen years old. She would be eighteen now. I know if she was still alive she would be out there living life the way she always saw it... an adventure. Difficulties that came along, she got right through them, knowing something better would always be waiting for her on the other side. She was a true optimist, and she'd want that for all of us. So as you stand here today, keeping Ellie's memory alive, I think the best way you can do that is the way she always did things... keep hope."

xx

On Friday night, Brennan went home when the day was done, started getting ready. Booth would be picking her up in one hour. It was one time where she sort of wished she'd told Angela about that night, then she could help her make up her mind. After a moment, she just focused on how she was feeling and picked the one that seemed right.

When the bell rang, she startled. There was something about all this that felt so much like she didn't know what she was doing, and she was about to fall flat on her face.

And then she opened the door. Her breath caught in her throat, much like Booth's did when he saw her. She liked this feeling, hadn't felt this good in a long while.

"Evening..." he spoke after the long silence.

"Hi," she smiled.

"You look... well, wow..." he blinked.

"Thank you," she smiled. "You look 'wow' too."

Booth held out his hand to her. She placed hers in his, and they headed to his car. She asked where they were going, but Booth wouldn't say.

He took her to a restaurant by the marina. Booth wanted to give her not just a good night but a great one. He wanted her to be able to remember this night all her life... wanted it to be the first of many more like it.

They talked throughout the meal, their conversation as lively as ever. He told her about his first case, his rise since. She told him about writing her latest novel, her inspirations. At times they had to edit themselves knowing they were eating. Each time they did, it got a laugh out of them, increasingly so with every shot.

When dinner was over, they sat outside for a while, looking up at the sky. "I loved looking for stars when I was a kid," she told him.

"Yeah, me too," he nodded. She looked over at him.

"I really liked this place," she told him. He looked over, meeting her eyes.

"I thought you might," he gave her a smile. "Is there anything else you'd like to do?"

"I'd like looking at the stars some more..." she told him. He nodded, placing his arm around her shoulders.

"Then let's look at some stars," they looked up to the sky.

They remained there looking up for going on an hour. Very early on, Booth removed his jacket and let Brennan wear it. When he caught her trying to stifle a yawn, he gave her shoulder a light squeeze.

"Come on, I'll take you home."

"Alright," she relented. He stood, helping her up. As she got to her feet, she came face to face with Booth. They stood there for a moment... there it was again, the no-freedom trapped moment... He smiled at her, and she smiled back... no one to stand in their way now. Booth's arm went to her back, the other's hand to her shoulder as she did as well. Not a moment of hesitation went into the equation as they kissed.

"Good stars," he looked up with a smile as they pulled back. She laughed.

xx

On Saturday morning, Hodgins went around his gate to the Montrose home. Out front, Meg and Mike were putting the last boxes into the truck that would travel to Arizona.

When Meg looked up and saw him coming, she smiled and walked over. "I didn't know if you were coming..." she told him.

"And miss your departure? No chance." She looked up at him before coming up to hug him. He returned it with one arm, the other holding an envelope. "It won't be the same without you next door," he told her.

"I'll call," she told him once she pulled back.

"Yeah, you better," he grinned. "And you have my e-mail too." She nodded. "How are you doing with the move?"

"I love Phoenix. We visited Uncle Mike lots of times. I'll be okay."

"That's good."

"What's that?" she asked of the brown envelope. He looked at it, having almost forgotten about it.

"Right... Well, I made you a promise, remember?" He reached into the envelope, handing her the tape she'd lent to them. She smiled as she recognized it.

"Thanks..."

"Meg?" She turned to her Uncle's call.

"I have to go..." He held out his hand to her. She smiled and shook his hand.

"Miss Margaret."

"Mr. Hodgins." She ran to the car, waved as they passed him.

As she sat against her seat, she twirled the tape between her fingers a moment before looking at it.

She reached into her backpack, pulled out the camera. She put the tape in, and she pressed play, seeing her sister's smiling face in the view screen.

**TBC**


	13. Epilogue B: Sisters Forever

**THE PRINCESS IN THE TOWER **

_So I was in a giving mood... Decided to post the final piece to this here puzzle a day early ;) Kind words have that way of getting me all anxious and stuff :) Also, I'm looking to really kick into the sequel so hopefully it won't be too long before it appears..._

**EPILOGUE B - Sisters Forever**

"It is 6:27am on this lovely August morning, as the one and only Miss Margaret Helen Montrose officially passes her eleventh anniversary of birth," Ellie spoke dramatically into the camera. The innocent face broke into a mischievous grin in half a second. "Let's wake her up!" The camera was turned to film out in front of Ellie. She opened the door into the pink room, dashing to the bed and jumping on it to take in the image of the ungracefulness that was the sleeping Meg, soon to be the shrieking Meg. Ellie crouched to cover her mouth. "Hey, hey, it's me. Don't wake them up."

"What are you doing?" she asked through Ellie's hand, which made her laugh.

"Celebrating my little sister's birthday. Happy Birthday tiny big girl." Meg laughed, now released.

"Are we gonna..." she started.

"You bet! Come on!" Out of the bed they went, down into the kitchen. On the table lay two styrofoam containers with pancakes. One had eleven candles planted into it. "Like I'd forget. I went out to get them at the crack of dawn. No one deserves it more than you." The girls sat. "Okay, hang on," Ellie reached out and lit the candles. As she did so, she spoke. "I know you're not looking forward to 'Mother and Father's' little birthday torture dinner, so just remember... I'll be there to intercede the whole time."

"Good," Meg nodded.

"Plus, after that, we can prank call them into insanity."

"You'll do the pizza guy?" Meg laughed.

"I'll do the pizza guy," she finished the candles. "Okay... make a wish. Don't tell me, okay?" Meg nodded and blew out the candles. "Here's to you," she told her. "Best sister a girl could ask for."

"You too," Meg smiled.

**THE END**


End file.
